Impulse trip to the North Cascades

coscorrosa · May 26, 2008

Next time I'll use a 2-stop split-ND filter on some of these to get better details in the trees (didn't think it was necessary at the time), but I still think some of them came out OK. I was mulling around sunset spots on Saturday (we had had two gorgeous cloud dotted sunsets in a row, neither of which I photographed) and decided to drive 2.5 hours away to the Mt. Baker ski area (now closed, but the roads are open). The primary peak below is Mt. Shuksan, after the snow melt there will be a little lake that has a nice reflection.

Rainbow (lasted all of two minutes):

Pink reflection:

I got this one one the way up, might actually be my favorite shot! It's a scenic road shoulder landscape (which is why it's in this forumn, of course) with an animal in the foreground for compositional interest:

Andy · May 29, 2008

schmoo · May 29, 2008

Ron, whoops! Somehow I missed this thread.

Beautiful series! I couldn't imagine living close enough to such vistas. I think I would die from happiness and the number of opportunities they present. Craggy snowy mountains are, IMO, the reason to live.

I love the light you've captured here, particularly the ever-fleeting rainbow. The skies in the third are a bit too cyan for my taste, but the last two are absolutely perfect.

Gotta love the scenic road shoulder!

coscorrosa · May 29, 2008

schmoo wrote:

Ron, whoops! Somehow I missed this thread.

Beautiful series! I couldn't imagine living close enough to such vistas. I think I would die from happiness and the number of opportunities they present. Craggy snowy mountains are, IMO, the reason to live.

I love the light you've captured here, particularly the ever-fleeting rainbow. The skies in the third are a bit too cyan for my taste, but the last two are absolutely perfect.

Gotta love the scenic road shoulder!

Thanks! I like the craggy snowy mountains as well, and the North Cascades have a bunch (with great names to boot: Mt. Terror, Mt. Fury, Desolation Peak, etc.). I'm heading back on Saturday (mostly to try and track the black bears), but I'll be shooting the sunset too. I agree, the colors in the third photo are a little weird.

Tee Why · May 29, 2008

Nice series.
Looks so cold.
Good thing I'm in southern California.

bryanj87 · May 29, 2008

Really nice shots. I was just out that way last week, but didn't see any bear.

coscorrosa · May 29, 2008

bryanj87 wrote:

Really nice shots. I was just out that way last week, but didn't see any bear.

Thanks!

I saw the photographed bear around 6:30 PM, and then after sunset (9:15 PM or so), I saw two more bears on my way out (too dark for photos).

Apparently there were quite a few sightings of a pair of black bears last year along the Mt. Baker Highway, so this is probably that same pair. Very cool animals, it was all I could do to not park the car and go stalk it through the woods

NorthernFocus · May 30, 2008

The rainbow and the two sunsets are really nice, Ron. I'm a big fan of alpenglow mountaintops

You've got some serious tonal issues on that BLACK bear though

leaforte · May 30, 2008

I've been trying to ride over the NC Highway for weeks, but (Spring) it opens, then closes then opens, then....Ding a dang. Nice captures. First bear shot I've seen there. Signs every where, 'bout them black bears, but I've yet to spot one. Nice captures.

coscorrosa · May 30, 2008

articblooms wrote:

The rainbow and the two sunsets are really nice, Ron. I'm a big fan of alpenglow mountaintops You've got some serious tonal issues on that BLACK bear though

Trust me, I was dumb enough to think it might be a grizzly until someone told me it wasn't (they have grizzly's in the north cascades, but they are unfortunately quite rare). I don't know who named these guys "black" bears, but whoever did probably did so before all color variations were known (they have pure white great "blue" herons too...).

Next time i'll correct the color in post to lessen confusion

coscorrosa · May 30, 2008

leaforte wrote:

I've been trying to ride over the NC Highway for weeks, but (Spring) it opens, then closes then opens, then....Ding a dang. Nice captures. First bear shot I've seen there. Signs every where, 'bout them black bears, but I've yet to spot one. Nice captures.

Same here, I've seen the signs, tracks (and "other" markings), but not the bears themselves.

Also, this was taken along the Mount Baker Highway (SR 542), not the North Cascades Highway (SR 20). SR 542 is usually clear until you hit the ski area (which is where the landscapes were taken, around milepost 54, the bears were between milepost 52 and 54).

I plan on going to the North Cascades a few times this summer for wildflowers, and early fall for some fall color shots.

Rhuarc · May 30, 2008

Wow, really nice shots! Where exactly were you at? A link to a google map would be greatly appreciated!

coscorrosa · May 30, 2008

Rhuarc wrote:

Wow, really nice shots! Where exactly were you at? A link to a google map would be greatly appreciated!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=703749269035411455,48.865100,-121.675900&q=WA-542+W+%4048.865100,+-121.675900&ie=UTF8&ll=48.850597,-121.65556&spn=0.08212,0.181274&z=13&iwloc=addr

You could get there in 2 hours from Everett without risking a speeding ticket

North on I-5, take exit 255 in Bellingham, drive east, it's about milepost 54 or so (though there's views all over the place). In a few months there'll be a lake with Shuksan reflecting in it (which has been photographed about a million times, but for good reason!).

Rhuarc · May 30, 2008

Excellent, thank you!

Other than the bear shot were the rest of them done from roads or are there hiking trails you used?

coscorrosa · May 30, 2008

Rhuarc wrote:

Excellent, thank you!

Other than the bear shot were the rest of them done from roads or are there hiking trails you used?

All within 1/4 mile of the road, you could go further, but you'd want to bring snow shoes. The trails and trail-head at the end of the road will be open in a month or two (I haven't hiked out there yet, but will this summer).

Impulse trip to the North Cascades

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