Preparing for my PNW trip.

DRT-Maverick

I'm leaving for Washington's Olympic Peninsula this October 14th, and I'm going to head through the Oregon and Washington cascades while I do my trip. A lot of the trip is based on i5 through Oregon though, and I don't know many places to visit to see the fall colors.


I am going ot visit the Columbia Gorge, as well as a lot of waterfalls on the way through oregon, but are there any key places that aren't well known that I should check out? I want to see how beautiful these states are, because I might be moving to one of them.

Also, I've got a lot of backpacking equipment with me and a friend, so I'll be doing a lot of hiking, so I can get to a lot of places.

DJ-S1

Don't know about Oregon, but Hurricane Ridge in Washington is pretty cool. I also enjoyed the Columbia gorge and the falls when we went, but after a day there we had to make some time (we were on our way to Tahoe).

Have a great trip!

DRT-Maverick

Ah cool, thanks for the move! I'll have to show my journey in that forum when I'm done. Hehe.

I'm definitely going to try to visit Hurricane Ridge, I wonder how the fall storms will be.

rpcrowe

Hoh Rainforest Olympic Peninsular
The Hoh is a wonderful fairyland of vines, moss and abundant lush green foliage that looks like it was created in a Walt Disney studio..

If you shoot there, be sure to bring rain protection for yourself and your camera gear. Visiting a rain forest and then needing to rip open plastic garbage bags to jury-rig a raincoat is not really planning in advance - yet many folks need to do just that! By the way, this is a wet-wet environment. Rubber boots or shoes with non skid soles are great to wear on your feet. If you wear sneakers or running shoes, you will be slogging around with wet feet by the end of your trip there. As always, a plastic bag with some dry cloths (old ripped up tee shirts are great for this) can help you keep your gear relatively dry.

Two items which will enhance your images are:

1. A tripod. The light level in the rain forest is very low since there is about 100% tree cover. A tripod will allow you to use a slower shutter speed in order to get a smaller aperture.

2. Believe it or not, a polarizing filter will (in many shots) enhance the vibrancy of a scene by reducing the reflections from the constantly wet foliage and thereby allowing them to be green in the image rather than just reflecting the light. People may say that this will not work because the light in the forest is so diffused. However, I know from experience that a polarizer will improve many of the shots. This is another reason that a tripod will come in handy since the polarizer will rob you of a couple of f/stops.

leaforte

One Hidden Gem: If you roll around HGY 101, near Port Angeles, head into the Hoh Rainforest. You will be astonished at the beauty. If you don't mind the two mile hike, there are natural hot springs (Olympic Hot Springs) that are awesome, being surrounded by rain forest. I think there are seven natural pools terraced into hillside; the cleanest, deepest, and hottest, being the one at the very top, which overlooks the whole valley. These are completely non-commercialized, public pools. Be prepared that the pools are 'clothing optional' and others you meet there may take it to heart. The entire Hoh Rain forest is unbelievable. Oh, and be on guard for Big Foot. These are his stomping grounds. Note: This is also up near Hurricane Ridge, sorta. And don't forget your wet weather gear, it's not called a rain forest for nothing. (just noticed rpcrowe's entry at the same time. See, what a great place!)

rustic

I was up there this summer (came up from California and along the Oregon coast, then up to Vancouver as part of a nice long road trip), there are definitely a lot of nice places.

I was a huge fan of the Oregon beaches, they're just really big! Hurricaine Ridge was great, along with the rest of Olympic NP (the Hoh rainforest was pretty cool). Portland was a fun town, I'm assuming that you'll hit it if you're going to the Columbia River gorge. Powells Bookstore is awesome, and Washington Park has some pretty cool stuff too (600+ varieties of roses!)

I'm an east coaster, so I don't really know about any of the lesser known places, but the PNW was definitely one of our favorite places.

I've got a few shots from that area in this gallery. It's more of a documentation of our trip than a fine art gallery, but it'll give you an idea of a few of the places.

Have a great time! And be sure to post to the Journeys forum when you get back

rpcrowe

If you go through Portland...
The Saturday Market in Portland is a neat place to be (of course - only on a Saturday) with vendors of all types of articles and ethnic foods plus plenty of wonderfully wierd folks to photograph.

The Japanese Gardens are beautiful as are the Rose gardens - but there may not be many roses in bloom this late in the year... The Japanese Gardens, however, are beautiful all year long.

Angelo

lust

Such wonderful feedback; you make a mod proud!

DRT-Maverick

I leave in 11 days from now. My only question though is has fall come early up there? Am I missing all the beautiful colors? Maybe I should have left at the beginning of the month.


Can anyone help me out with a foliage report?

DJ-S1

Here you go - have a great trip!

Ken Lapp

DRT-Maverick wrote:

I leave in 11 days from now. My only question though is has fall come early up there? Am I missing all the beautiful colors? Maybe I should have left at the beginning of the month.


Can anyone help me out with a foliage report?

We are getting some good color now, but I haven't been up in the mountains yet. According to the reports, most places at higher elevations are close to peak now.

You will see some great color and scenery if you travel over Hwy#2, Stevens Pass. If you can make it to the Olympic Peninsula, as the others have mentioned, the Hoh rain forest is a must, as is Hurricane Ridge, and also the Crescent Lake area, which is about half way between the first two.

My wife and I took a trip to the peninsula and up to Stevens Pass in August. To see an example of what you'll see on the peninsula visit our gallery here, and for Stevens Pass visit here. I"ll be heading out over the weekend myself to see how much color is in the mountains. If you do travel over Hwy#2, be sure to stop in Leavenworth. It's Octoberfest time there now. The link above is from Christmas time last year. There was a lot of snow, and they really go all out at Christmastime.

Have fun in the Pacific Northwest! It is a great place to visit, and to call home!

Ken

Quicklebe

Opal Creek
You might want to consider Opal Creek. Very pretty place and less traveled than the Columbia Gorge. Opal Creek is located close to Salem OR.

Here is a link http://www.opalcreek.org/

You can either backpack in the forest or else there is a small community that maintains some cabins.

greenpea

As for the drive through Oregon, if you can pull it off, drive up the coast along US-101 instead of I-5.

For the Olympics, in addition to Hurricane Ridge (or instead of) I would check out Deer Park (the turn off is just East of the turn off for Hurricane ridge). You get up there (6000') and your often above the clouds. And if your up for it, the hike from Hurricane Ridge to Deer park is an amazing hike.

My sunrise pic from a trip to deer park a few weeks ago:


As for fall colors, if you want to head East into the North Cascades a ways along highway 2 (Stevens Pass) there are often great fall colors there.

Have a great trip.

dogwood

DRT-Maverick wrote:

I leave in 11 days from now. My only question though is has fall come early up there? Am I missing all the beautiful colors? Maybe I should have left at the beginning of the month.


Can anyone help me out with a foliage report?

Lots of colors lately, unfortunately lots of white too! The passes have been getting snow this week in the Cascades and it's been unseasonably cold in the Portland area. The snow is mostly melting during the days, but just something to keep in mind.

And just my two-cents-- Oregon is HUGE and there are different routes across the state. The coast is lovely, I-5 not so much, but another route that is awesome is Hwy 395 or Hwy 97. 395 is remote and not very travelled so go prepared if you take that route-- last year I drove from La Pine to Lakeview and saw three other cars in two hours!

raebrown

We visited Washington's Olympic penninsula last year and thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. If you like hiking I'd recommend a visit to Dungeness Spit near the city of Sequim. Blister warning: Its about 5 1/2 miles from the parking lot out to the lighthouse. I'd also check to see if the lighthouse is open when you are there. Enjoy!

PS/ Sorry, I haven't figured out how to embed an image yet so I left the link.
http://raebrown.smugmug.com/gallery/1789699_WyFH9/1/588620348_9ezDr

dogwood

Just a little addition to my post last week-- I was in the Lakeview, Oregon area (hwy 395) to shoot the fall colors last week and there was snow in the mountains but plenty of color!

Elaine

dogwood wrote:

Just a little addition to my post last week-- I was in the Lakeview, Oregon area (hwy 395) to shoot the fall colors last week and there was snow in the mountains but plenty of color!

Beautiful pics, Pete!