pnwonderland

Silver Linings

Expectations: A crisp autumn weekend hiking through the Cascade Mountains, chasing golden larches and postcard-perfect vistas.

Reality: A fierce and unannounced winter storm barreled through the region, plunging temperatures into the low 20s and unleashing winds strong enough to flatten tents. The landscape was blanketed in a fresh inch of snow—beautiful, but brutal.

None of the forecasts hinted at the severity we encountered in the high country. The mild conditions at the trailhead gave no warning of what lay ahead. As we climbed, thick banks of clouds rolled in swiftly, unloading icy rain and snow across the peaks. We knew then: the night would be unforgiving.

By morning, the storm had passed. In its wake, it left behind a breathtaking scene—crisp air, golden larches dusted in snow, and light that danced across the ridges. A photographer’s dream, even if our fingers were numb.

North Cascades National Park
Washington, USA

Shades of Fall

Its officially fall in the Pacific Northwest. After a long spring where the average temperature slowly meanders up, and a blissful long summer where the mountains showcase all their splendor, the mercury drops in a matter of a few weeks in the mountains as the weather becomes wetter thanks to the storms from the Pacific. The vegetation responds to the changes in weather rather dramatically, as short brush in the high-alpine terrain turn to a scarlet red, while the larches in the drier reaches of the PNW switch to gold. And before long, they are replaced by a coat of white as winter sets in the mountains. All within a span of 4-6 weeks.

Naturally, it is one of the best times to be out there to capture this dramatic change in colors. Here are a few examples from the North Cascades range.

Mt Baker Wilderness

WA USA

Blurred visions

Balsamroot in full bloom stretch towards the horizon where the first light of day hits Mt Hood. Framed against the pink sky, the scene was a a perfect reminder of the beauty of spring in the Pacific Northwest, which encapsulates everything from the vivid tulip blossoms in Skagit Valley, the vibrant flowers in neighborhood gardens to vast blooms like this one.

I used the blur of the windswept blooms to highlight the gusty conditions that morning. While I attempted a few shots at a higher shutter speed to freeze the motion, I found that the blurred flowers worked equally well for this scene.

Columbia Hills Historic State Park
WA USA

Chasing totality

The chatter on social media over the last few weeks has been the great 2024 eclipse earlier this week.
Tracing a path from south-western Texas all the way across to New England and the north-eastern tip of the US, this eclipse was the last total eclipse in the lower 48 for the next 20 years. While the last eclipse I witnessed was in August of 2017 within driving distance of where I lived, this one required a flight and hop to get to the zone of totality.

While eclipses are easy to predict years in advance, the local weather pattern isn't. It had been a constant
dance of credit cards and booking websites over the last few weeks as I analyzed weather patterns to determine if I was heading to the correct location to catch the eclipse.

While I haven't yet edited the images from this year's eclipse yet, here is totality from the 2017 eclipse in Oregon.

Madras
OR USA

It's still winter

The PNW might finally be warming up for spring. Or not.

It has been an unusual winter so far: a warm dry January, followed by a normal February, and then a cold and wet 2 weeks in March. And then an abnormal heat wave. While the El Nino has had an impact on the winter weather of the PNW, the upcoming weekend is going to break all spring temperature records. Its not only the Seattlites who probably are going to be befuddled and get sunburnt by heading outdoors, even the spring blossoms are likely to get disoriented.

Regardless, hiking outdoors may not all be sunshine and rainbows. There is still snow on the higher elevations. And the higher temperatures may lead to higher avalanche risk as well. Watch out.

Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA

Wonderwall

One of the perks of being stuck at home is to go back and comb the archives for hidden gems. The improvement in editing techniques can lease new life to old images that I had discarded as 'uneditable'. Lightroom's capabilities to selectively filter regions based on luminance and color ranges have proved invaluable in this.

This was one such image, which proved difficult to edit at the time I shot it (6 years ago) due to the high dynamic range. While I did take a few bracketed exposures of this scene, and shot a few others with a graduated ND filter, the former lacked sharpness due to lack of a tripod to keep the camera steady, and the latter introduced visual artifacts that were proving challenging to remove. With the new capabilities of LR, I was able to control exposure in a much better manner, and restore the photo to what I actually experienced at the scene.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest
WA USA

Morning Hues

Its March, and Spring is yet to arrive as the winter is still going on in full blast in the Pacific Northwest. But the sun rises more than an hour earlier compared to the solstice, and hikes to catch the morning glow have proven to be more challenging. And that means I won't get to see the pre-dawn colors of a winter-wonderland until the end of the year. But I do have plenty of photos from this hike late last year, and that will have to do.

Mount Tahoma State Forest
WA USA

,

Junuary

,

While summer has officially begun in the Pacific Northwest, it quite doesn't feel like one yet, especially when compared to the halcyon days of June last year. But I am not complaining as the rainy days have kept the temperatures cooler and landscape in spring-like conditions well into summer. I still get psyched about seeing puffy clouds march endlessly into the horizon, and colorful wildflowers showing off their blooms well into June.

While hiking recently along the Columbia River Gorge, I captured a few photos that symbolized the fresh conditions that the wet Pacific Northwest has been having.

Columbia River Gorge
WA USA

Frozen Sentinels

While we are slowly transitioning from spring to summer in the lowlands of the Pacific Northwest, the mountains are still winter wonderlands, and it will be a while before it takes on a summer coating. Meanwhile, there is still plenty of snow to enjoy.

Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA