Tag Archives: Wenatchee

Leavenworth Waterfront Park

On the way in to Leavenworth, I took a side street looking for a good parking option.  As we drove along this road, it took us close to the river and a sign for the waterfront park.  I had no idea about this park previously so we decided to check it out after walking through the town for a while.  Turns out it is a great set of trails that run along the river.  There are a couple of islands with bridges between them connecting everything together to make the park.

Each of the islands has a choice of trails so you don’t have to go out and back but can vary your route.  The ground was a bit icy underfoot in places but generally it was clear and plenty of people were out enjoying the views.  The river is to the south of the park while there are inlets around the islands formed as the water constantly changes the landscape.  There were also signs talking about the history of the area.  A stretch of wooden piles were arrayed out in to the river at what I assume was once a loading pier.  The lumber business was once dominant in the area.

Wenatchee River Valley in Fall

Having made our first stop at Lake Wenatchee State Park, we continued on in the direction of Leavenworth.  The highway takes you down a river valley with the Wenatchee River at its core.  This is a pretty drive at any time of year and the many pull offs are often filled with people stopping off the enjoy the view.  A colder fall day meant it was slightly less busy but it also meant deeper shadows.  Still, there were plenty of people enjoying the scenery, even if they weren’t getting out of the cars for too long.

Having written about whether HDR is still worthwhile in a recent post, the shaded valley was something that I figured was still possibly needing a technique that could handle a wide dynamic range.  Other spots were still in open light and were an easier bet.  The difficulty of a valley like this is communicating the feeling within the rocky walls.  Wider lenses allow you to show more of the scene but they also diminish the scale and I find it hard to give the impression you get when actually there.  I actually spent some time with a longer lens picking out details of the scenes rather than the whole thing but I wasn’t going to give up on that completely.