Out at 7:37; 33° with some ice/frost on the truck.
Drove to and thru the Quinault Lake area of Olympic NP. Got a few photos – not likely keepers. It is a beautiful area, but I had an unremarkable day: just because a scene or area is beautiful does not mean it is photogenic. But I was not at all disappointed – I am now used to how things work on this kind of expedition: I can drive and search for days at time and find little or nothing, then have a day where I get dozens of poster shots (like I did yesterday).
What was interesting here was the snow that was still on the ground from a week ago:
When there is precipitation in the forecast, they will always (in mountainous areas) include a “snow level”: if the snow level is 3,000′, for example, it will be snowing at about 3,000′ and above, and raining at lower elevations. This is my 3rd winter in Washington, and the first time I’ve seen snow below 2,000′. The elevation where I was in the Hoh was 109′ (there are some mountains there), and I saw snow still on the ground from 7 days prior! I learned that it had snowed on the beaches (Pacific Ocean) – I wish I had been here to see it.
Drove to Cape Disappointment and hiked the hill that I had thought would make a decent vantage point when waves are too big to shoot from the parking lot: it’s called “Battery 247″ for the gun placement that was built there in WWII. A row of trees partially blocks the view, but it’s better than nothing (or getting killed). I saw video from the storm of 1-18-2018, exactly a week after I left for home last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt0FNBW91e0
I knew that storm was coming, and really wanted to stay for it, but I was out of time. If I get to be there in such a storm, I will likely have to retreat to higher ground to get any photos at all.
I plan to visit Cape Disappointment this week, but do not expect dangerously high waves this time.
Thank you for saying, “Just because a scene or area is beautiful does not mean it’s photogenic.” I LOVE nature .I love to go to beautiful places. I love to hike. I love to take time to look at details and photograph them. I love to take pictures and look at them over and over again later. (I’m totally amateur. I take them with my phone. I am untrained and don’t have professional equipment.) But many times I have been frustrated by the inability to capture the beauty of what I’ve seen and experienced. I’ve looked at images and wondered why I even took the photo, yet remember the place being beautiful. It never occurred to me that some scenes in nature could be unphotogenic! I recently visited the south and west coasts of Ireland, Sabino Canyon, Grand Canyon, and all over the island of Kauai and a little of the island of Hawaii. I found myself being more selective of what photos I took with each trip. A little bit, anyway. 🙂