Tag Archives: mountains

Diablo Dam

The dams along the Skagit River coming down from the Cascades are all pretty interesting but Diablo Dam is the easiest one to access so, when mum was visiting, we made the side trip to go across it. I actually missed the turning for it when we were heading into the mountains but I made sure to remember where it was when we headed back down. Driving across the top of the dam is pretty cool but it is a little narrow if you meet traffic coming the other way. There was a good flow of water coming through one of the spillways while we were there and that looks impressive compared to when everything is calm.

The Mountain Colors Are So Good They Look Fake

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Driving up the North Cascades highway towards Washington Pass, the scenery looked great. I realized that there was a good spot to pull over as we headed up and figured I would stop on the way back. When we returned, I pulled off to take some shots and there were lots of other people doing likewise. The sun was out and shining on the peaks around us but there was plenty of color in the mountains. As I looked at it, I felt like it was somehow a creation of some movie maker rather than something I was looking at. The colors looked amazing. The shots conveyed the color pretty well but I fear that I was going to be assumed to have gone to town on the saturation slider. This is exactly how it looked!

Coming Home Over The Mountains

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My return journey from Chelan brought me over Stevens Pass on a sunny day. I had a schedule to get back for another meeting so wasn’t able to loiter too much but I still managed to take a few minutes out to stop and grab a couple of shots. There aren’t many places to stop going over Stevens Pass but, coming down from the summit heading west, there is a pull out and so I made my first use of that. I also stopped coming in to Index to grab a snack from the coffee hut there which has a nice view of Mount Index.

Cascades In The Clouds

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Snowy Cascades shots are pretty but I was shooting from an airliner on my way for a work trip and the mountains were sitting amongst the clouds. Getting a good shot from a plane of a white subject when contrast is not going to be great is a risk but this came out better than I expected. It won’t be too long before the snow is melted and we shall have to wait for half a year to get something like this again.

Trees Growing Out of the Rock

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When starting up at rocky mountainsides, it is easy to spot trees that seem to be doing an amazing job of growing out of somewhere that looks like it shouldn’t be possible. Normally I am a lot further away that is practical to get a good look at how they do this. However, while hiking in the Cascades, we came across a spot right next to the trail where some trees were growing right out of the rocks next to us. It was so cool to see how they develop a root structure in solid rock from which they can grow and flourish. Here are a couple of shots to show how they have successfully embedded themselves in a rocky surface.

Sun on The Snowy Mountains

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The ferry ride from Swartz Bay back to Tsawwassen was on a day that wasn’t particularly nice weather wise. And we emerged in to the open water from the islands, I was wandering about with the camera. The view to the mountains north of Vancouver opened up and they were in clear sunlight with the snow reflecting the warm winter light beautifully. It was a distant shot but a panorama seemed to be a good idea. Everyone on the boat seemed to be taking notice and plenty of people came out on deck to take their photos.

Pretty Mountain Backdrop

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My effort to shoot an arriving A350 at SeaTac provided a secondary benefit. The majority of arriving aircraft land on the outer runway. This is further away and also has a threshold further up the field. This means the aircraft are higher up on the approach. On a clear winter’s day, the planes have the backdrop of the snow covered Olympic mountain range. They were a bit far away but did provide a rather scenic view.

Washington Pass

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Our trip over the Cascades took us through Washington Pass. There was an overlook area with parking which allowed us to stop and wander around a bit. The view of the pass was gorgeous. There was snow on the peaks surrounding things and a hint of snow on the ground too. The road drops down dramatically from the pass and comes down the valley below the overlook. You were almost looking straight down on vehicles as they passed beneath.

There were plenty of places to walk. The overlook area itself was not far from the parking lot but a short trail wandered up and around the rocks to give a wide variety of views. The autumnal light was nice and low even though it was very sunny. Being quite high up meant the sun was a bit stronger than normal. The panoramic views meant standing and staring was the order of the day. We ended up staying there for quite a while. It will soon (if not already) be snowy up there. As I write this, the road is already closed for the winter. Hopefully we shall head back up that way when spring arrives.

Diablo Lake Vista Point

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Diablo Lake sits behind one of the dams as you head across the Cascades. Overlooking the lake is a vista point and we stopped there to have our lunch. We certainly weren’t the only ones to think of this. The parking lot was pretty full and there were tons of people enjoying the view. For being up in the mountains, you certainly weren’t a long way away from civilization! On a sunny day, it wasn’t hard to understand why it was so popular.

Across one side of the lake you could see the top of the dam. Meanwhile, you had great views in all directions. The vista point was quite high above the water level and looking down on the water and the islands in the lake, you had a perspective that almost felt like flying. One of the islands had a nice jetty and the water was clear enough to see down to the bottom in the shallows. I guess the water is snow run off from the mountains so it probably doesn’t pick up too much sediment.

How to Pick Apples

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Heading through the Cascades one weekend, we stopped off at a farm stand. They had apple orchards and were showing off one of the machines used for picking the apples. It had multiple tines for sweeping the apples from the branches when they are ready, presumably without bruising the fruit. I imagine this thing can pick a lot more fruit than a person in a given time.