Posted by Tom Kloster on August 2, 2007 at 11:22 PM
Made my first pilgrimage of the year to Elk Cove yesterday - very lonely up there on a weekday, plus the closure of the Timberline Trail at Eliot Branch has really had an impact on hikers. It reminded me of last summer, when the Bluegrass Fire closed the trail east of Elk Cove, and made for a nice, quiet hike (for a change). Enough flies to be annoying, but the trail from Vista Ridge has been cleared, and there was only one downfall to climb through on the Timberline Trail. Also saw a marmot below the trail where it crosses 99 Ridge - not all that common on Hood.
The flowers aren't quite peaking on the north side of Hood, but within a few days of getting there. The asters were just beginning to open yesterday, and the lupine and paintbrush were in full swing. There were still a lot of avalanche lily around, surprisingly. I'm partial to Western pasqueflower, and the seedpod display was pretty good from this vantage spot. I tried some very low images, with mixed results, so this is a bit higher off the ground. There is a VERY faint cloud blowing off the summit, the only cloud I saw all day. So I'll be back up there to see if I can improve my luck on that front.
Comments and suggestions welcome, as always!
Olympus E-300, 14-54mm lens at 20mm, 1/80 sec, polarizer
Tom
Posted by Mark Hudon on August 3, 2007 at 12:08 AM
Tom, give me call if you want to head up there some weekday. I'll see if I can get off. Nice shot, BTW.
Posted by Zack Schnepf on August 3, 2007 at 1:21 AM
Beautiful scene, I'm heading up there next weekend.
Posted by Tom Kloster on August 3, 2007 at 2:30 AM
Hey, Mark - just sent you an e-mail.
Zack, you're going to be timing it perfectly for the flowers... hopefully a few clouds will be there for you, too!
Discussion
5 repliesThe flowers aren't quite peaking on the north side of Hood, but within a few days of getting there. The asters were just beginning to open yesterday, and the lupine and paintbrush were in full swing. There were still a lot of avalanche lily around, surprisingly. I'm partial to Western pasqueflower, and the seedpod display was pretty good from this vantage spot. I tried some very low images, with mixed results, so this is a bit higher off the ground. There is a VERY faint cloud blowing off the summit, the only cloud I saw all day. So I'll be back up there to see if I can improve my luck on that front.
Comments and suggestions welcome, as always!
Olympus E-300, 14-54mm lens at 20mm, 1/80 sec, polarizer
Tom
Zack, you're going to be timing it perfectly for the flowers... hopefully a few clouds will be there for you, too!
Tom
Tom