Moran State Park provided a great place for some hiking. It is a pretty shady and damp environment, though. As we were heading down one trail, we came to a bridge over the river. The bridge seemed to have most of its surfaces covered in moss. The lack of direct light must have made it an ideal location for the moss to thrive.
A small bay on Cascades Lake was a spot that a family of swans was hanging out as we hiked by. The cygnets were almost fully grown but still had the darker down to show that they were still not fully mature. The parents were still clearly paying attention to the safety of their kids, despite their size.
Our walk in Moran State Park included a diversion up the hills to see some falls. There were two that I was expecting to see. The first of these was Rustic Falls. It was not supposed to be a big waterfall and that was the case. However, it was quite pretty. I wandered down to the water’s edge to try and get some shots of it. I was using the M6 which comes with a tilting screen. That really makes like so much easier when trying to get a shot very low to the ground. No need to lie on the earth or to fit a tilting eye piece. Just tilt the screen up, put the camera as low as you want, and get the shot. I wish my higher end cameras had the same capability!
The misty mornings at Orcas were not only pretty atmospheric to wake up to but they also could make for interesting shots of the ferries. As the banks of fog rolled in and out, the boats could disappear and reappear. As they backed out and spun around, they could be right on the edge of disappearing. Since we were facing south, the whole scene was backlit which made it look even more interesting.
Driving up to the summit of Mount Constitution, the road twists and turns a great deal. Some of the curves have a steep drop off which will not end well if your vehicle were to leave the paved surface. Consequently, there are plenty of concrete posts along the edge of the road to try and stop you going too far wrong. However, it is so shady and damp within the woods the cover the side of the mountain, these posts get no light and have become home for moss. It looks so thick that you wonder whether the car would even be scratched it you hit one!
Orcas Island is the location for Moran State Park. It includes Cascades Lake which makes for a nice hike. We extended the hike slightly to include some waterfalls but they will get a post of their own (or two). In the low winter light, the lake looks really beautiful. The trail brings you out in little bays but you are never too far from the water. The trail is not along the shore and the terrain is a little steeper than you might expect but it is still a pretty simple hike. Meanwhile, you get to enjoy the lovely views so it doesn’t feel like too much exertion at all.
While hiking through Moran State Park, we came up to a road. As we got there a vintage car of some sort was coming towards us. Annoyingly, I had changed the camera to its base ISO to photograph some waterfalls and hadn’t reset it to auto ISO. It was dark in there so, when I shot the passing vehicle, the shutter speed was way too low. It means the shots were blurred but it actually wasn’t as bad as I had expected.
Moran State Park was a damp and shady place for a hike. As we got closer to Cascades Lake, we got to an area that was a bit misty. With the sun peaking through the trees, the moisture in the air picked up the shafts of sunlight picking through the branches. I had not photographed this before and I was interested how to expose to get the effect to show up properly.
I wasn’t sure whether to underexpose or go with the base settings so I played around with it a bit. Since it was the mirrorless M6 I was using, you get a bit of a preview in the viewfinder of what you will get but my experience of that camera is that the viewfinder can be a little off compared to what you get when working on the desktop. A little tweaking and I was pretty pleased with the results. I did also try some HDR just in case but I don’t think it was necessary.
First thing in the morning on Orcas Island made from some beautiful conditions. We were staying in a place looking out over the water towards Shaw Island but, in the morning, we got some low fog and mist that could obscure our neighbor so close by. As the sun came up, the fog would burn off and then roll back in. It was a constantly changing view with the land and smaller islands appearing and disappearing frequently. You could sit and watch it for ages. Best done from inside the house, though, since it was rather chilly.
