Snowy Deception Falls

[scole]

I don't like to keep posting photos from the same location but this turned out to be my third option for a destination yesterday!

It's been weeks since I've been able to get out to take photos and if you've seen the news, you know that western Washington has been in the middle of an extreme freeze for the better part of a week now. Saturday morning's forecast called for sunny skies before the next storm rolled in so I tried to get out someplace along the Highway 2 corridor.

My first choice was a lookout perched above the Skykomish River valley but all the recent snow & ice have left parking inaccessible at the trailhead so I kept heading east. My next option was to hike a bit of the Old Cascade Highway by snowshoe but once again parking was not an option (too deep & guarantee of getting stuck!). My last resort was heading back to Deception Falls.

Since the Forest Service only opens it during for the peak part of summer, parking is at a premium in good weather let along after a prolonged period of snow & ice. I managed to find a small pullout about 0.5 miles west of the Falls and so I hiked the road back to the falls. Temperatures were in the teens with a forecast of blustery winds. Once at the Falls, I switched to snowshoes since there was about 1-2' of powder snow all around.

A challenging day of photography to be sure. The snow and ice have completely changed what seemed familiar only a few weeks ago. I would have preferred to stay and experiment more but I was getting overdue.

#1 Upper Falls

#2 Lower Falls

#3 Downstream

#4 Downstream (HDR)

#5 Tye River's 90 degree turn

Thanks..

 

[sambrody44]

I love these. #3 is my favorite. Great shots!

 

[jv17]

you really did a great job on this

 

[scole]

Thank you both. #3 is also my favorite. That was one of the few that I knew might be good while I was taking it. I also like the composition of #4 but despite my best intentions, the HDR result has the look of a 1950s color postcard.

I also like #5 but it appears that there was a nice spot of snow on my lens (on the river, above the log). Oh well!..

 

[Mersad]

The composition in Nr. 4 is very good. I like the colors too.

 

[Dragonfly..shotz]

Beautiful, number 4 for me. It captures what I love about landscape photography very well. Lovely work.

 

[pez]

These are great- I like them all! You must have frozen your a$$ off... :thumbup:

 

[demain]

Very cool shots...I wish I had things of this sort to take pics of around my area

 

[rjackjames]

awesome snowy shot.

 

[Fox Paw]

Good shots. I think your reservations about the HDR are misplaced.

 

[RockDawg]

All of them are great shots, but I really like #1.

 

[abraxas]

Good shots. I think your reservations about the HDR are misplaced.

I agree #4 is very nice.

 

[Lyncca]

Oh! There are a lot of great shots on the boards today!

These are fantastic; I can just almost feel your freezing your tail off out there! BRRR!

 

[scole]

Thanks all. I appreciate the feedback and the affirmation about the HDR shot. My girlfriend keeps telling me that I'm too hard on myself.