Stairs at Windy Ridge

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Windy Ridge Viewpoint provides a great view of Mt St. Helens and Spirit Lake but you can get higher if you want.  There are some stairs cut into the hillside from the parking lot to take you up to an overlook and another trail.  I figured it was worth a look since I had come all of that way.  The stairs were a bit sketchy in part and, since there was no one for miles around, I decided to take it easy.  The climb was not too bad but I was aware that I was a bit higher than normal as I puffed my way up.  The descent was not much easier to be honest.

The way the steps cut across the hillside made for some good shapes.  The wood that made the sides of the steps also created some nice repeating shapes.  It didn’t always do a good job of keeping in the aggregate that was supposed to be the step surface though!

Janet on a Blustery PNW Day

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Crummy weather and a lack of light is not usually a recipe for heading out to shoot planes.  However, I was up in Everett getting the car serviced and, as I prepared to leave when the work was done, I figured I would have a quick check on what was moving up the road.  Turned out ATS had another Janet 737 out on a test flight.

I have shot the Janet 737s at Paine Field in far better conditions but I figured it was worth a quick diversion before heading home.  The wind was very strong and from the southwest.  As the 737 came down the approach, it was pointing in my direction as it compensated for the crosswind.  A short while before it arrived, we had experienced some nice sun poking through the clouds but, sadly, this had gone by the time it arrived so it was dull lighting.  This somehow made the airframe paint seem a little warmer than I recall previously.

Larrabee State Park

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On our drive up the coast towards Bellingham, we were passing Larrabee State Park.  Apparently, this was the first state park in the state of Washington.  We were only making a brief stop so we didn’t get to explore it too fully but we did follow the trails down to the beach.  The first trail we took brought us down to the water’s edge in a little cove.  A few people were there but it was quite sheltered from the wind and seemed very tranquil.

We then reversed course and heading to another part of the shoreline.  This was far more rocky and exposed and also very attractive.  Standing up on the rocky outcrops looking out to see in the sun as the birds wheeled overhead, I could easily have stayed there for a long time.  We also had a good view across the bay to the opposite shore which had some nice looking houses arrayed along the cliff tops.  Some larger building was further up the coast in a prominent location.  We were heading elsewhere, though, so we walked back up through the park, past the stage area and off on the next leg of the journey.

Spirit Lake

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Sitting beneath Mt St Helens is Spirit Lake.  It was there before the blast but not exactly where it is now.  The debris that rushed off the mountain and the side of the volcano collapsed pushed down to the lake and actually raised it up a couple of hundred feet.  The water also rushed up the surrounding hills.  These had been covered in trees which, as the blast expanded outwards, got snapped off at their bases.  These stripped tree trunks got picked up by the water and washed back in to the lake as the water retreated.  The result is that there are now thousands of tree trunks floating on the surface of the lake making a raft.  This moves with the wind so its location on the lake surface changes all the time but it always covers a substantial portion of the lake.

The lake also covers the previous location of a lodge that used to serve visitors.  The owner of the lodge died in the explosion and the raised level of the lake now puts it above the lodge’s original location.  The owner had been advised to leave but he had lived there all his life and he wasn’t interested in going.  He was one of the many people to die that day.

Landing the Balloon Where You Can

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I posted about the hot air balloon over our town in this post.  At the end of that post, the balloons was descending behind the trees for a landing and I was driving off to find them.  It turned out that I had forgotten about a field between the rail tracks and the highway.  I came around the corner and the ballon was on the ground but upright sitting in the field.  It looked pretty incongruous.

I was clearly not the only person intrigued by this as a bunch of vehicles had gone down the normally quiet road alongside the field.  The team was actually still burning as they maneuvered the ballon to the edge of the field to give themselves space to deflate it.  Most people got bored with the view, but I decided to try and get photos and video of the whole sequence of deflating the balloon.  The light was fading rapidly at this point.

A bunch of the crew grabbed the lines to the top of the balloon as the top vent was opened up.  The balloon started to sag rapidly but, once they pulled it over to a certain point, the vent was too low to let the warm air out.  Then they waited while another person gathered up the envelope and squeezed the remaining air out.  Finally, it sagged to the ground and the final gathering up was quickly completed.  By now it was quite dark, and I figured it was time to go home.  I am not aware that they use the field to land normally.  I wonder if this was a bit of an urgent landing as the light was fading fast and the low winds were limiting options.

Sailing Boats on Puget Sound

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We took a walk along the beach at Shoreline one Sunday and the weather was lovely.  Obviously plenty of people thought it was a good day too and there were lots of sailing boats out on Puget Sound.  Some of them came in quite close to the shore before tacking away.  The winds was obviously pretty strong as some of them healed over pretty hard as they caught the wind again.  I love the look of yachts sailing in a strong breeze.

Fisher P-75A Eagle

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While researching some old images of mine from the experimental hangar at the USAF Museum in Dayton OH (the collection of which has since been moved into a new, custom build display hangar which is far more spacious), I saw some shots of something which, to be honest, I had no idea what it was.  I took a look at the website of the museum to try and identify the type.  It is a Fisher P-75A Eagle.

I did not knew Fisher existed and discovered it was part of General Motors.  The configuration of the aircraft is quite unusual.  The engine is mounted in the middle of the aircraft driving a contra-rotating propeller.  The cockpit is further forward that on other single-engined fighters of the era since there was no space allocated to the engine up front.  The underside includes a pair of inlets.  The airframe is finished in polished metal rather than paint.  Overall, it looks quite impressive.  From what I read, another type was not deemed as necessary so development was terminated and they used the airframes for engine development work.  Funny how I saw it on the visit and took photos and then promptly forgot about it.

Downtown Leavenworth

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Our trip took us onward to Leavenworth.  I wasn’t sure how busy the town would be given the time of year but there were plenty of people around.  The warmer environment downtown meant that some of the trees were still showing their color.  While people were everywhere, it wasn’t so crowded which meant getting some openness in the foregrounds was possible.  Preparations were underway for the Christmas lighting so I suspect it will soon be a lot busier.

Alongside the river at one end of the town was a rather nice looking hotel.  It had a hot tub in the garden in which a couple of people were hanging out.  Given how chilly it was, they looked rather incongruous but I imagine the water temperatures meant they were very comfortable.  It looked like a nice place to stay and, if we ever decide to overnight in Leavenworth, we might consider it.

Back to Coupeville for a Day Off

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NOLF Coupeville was scheduled for FCLP training and strong winds from the Southeast were forecast which suggested the right runway would be in use.  I also had a day off scheduled.  While the rest of the weather was potentially not ideal, I figured I would make the trip.  Why. Not?  They were due to be flying from late morning but, as seems to be usual, it was just after noon by the time things started to look active.

I was worried about the low cloud base but it was actually not a problem.  The wind was really strong gusting 20-30 kts.  This was giving them some interesting flying.  Early on, there was a hint of sun sometimes which really helped the photos.  As they climbed out after each touchdown, the skies behind made from interesting backgrounds and showed off the heat haze from the exhausts as well as the streaming tip vortices courtesy of the damp conditions.

After a while, I got a visit from the Navy Police.  The young lad informed me I wasn’t allowed to photograph the jets. I pointed out I could be he was most insistent that I couldn’t.  Rather than have trouble I decided the stop shooting.  As it happened, the conditions got a bit worse anyway so I had got the best of what was on offer.  I just watched the rest of the flying which included quite a few bolsters and some sketchy touchdowns as the wind got stronger.