This summer got off to a slow start with a couple failed outings and then a general feeling of indifference towards making the most of the short window of time that is the hiking season in Washington. However, I did quickly break out of that funk and since mid July have had the longest lucky streak I can recall. It seems that every time I go somewhere I somehow become witness to scenes and light that are better than the last. It's completely opposite to the trend that I experienced last year (and every other year). Surely this can't go on forever, but I am certainly grateful for the incredible experiences I've been having as of late.
A couple weekends ago, my friend Vinny and I did a whirlwind tour of the North Cascades and Mt. Baker over the course of four days. The trip got off to a great start near Artist Point with fog rolling over the hills and into valleys while a colorful sunrise displayed overhead. After getting some photos that we were rather content with, we devised a plan for how we'd spend the rest of the weekend. Using the forecast as our guide, we decided the North Cascades was probably our best bet for the next couple of nights. During the whole three and a half hour drive to get there it was overcast and at times raining. The rain picked up in the late afternoon and we were practically writing off any chance for a good sunset after seeing an updated forecast calling for thunderstorms and flash flooding. Under the downright dreary conditions, hiking was not something either of us were looking forward to, so we decided it might be best to just hang out at some roadside viewpoint to wait and see. It was then that Vinny came up with the brilliant idea to take a gamble on Hart's Pass.
At first I was a little hesitant, as I drive a small coupe and wasn't looking forward to taking it on supposedly the scariest road in Washington (even though I disagree with that assessment). It's a very bumpy road and was a lot more driving than I thought was worth wasting time and gas for, but I eventually agreed to it. We made it up there a couple hours prior to sunset and found conditions to still be solid overcast and Slate Peak (the main attraction) was enveloped in clouds.
This was quickly turning into a scouting trip for the next morning's sunrise. We started heading down a trail and in open areas were looking for compositions facing east for the rising sun. Eventually, to both our surprise and delight, the western horizon started to grow a little brighter -- it was enough to at least give us some hope. We picked up the pace on the trail we were on, but we were still failing to find any sort of compelling composition. Wildflowers were sparse and other foreground elements were lacking.
About 40 minutes before the sun was due to set, crepuscular rays broke through the distant cloud deck and spot-lit sections of the valley thousands of feet below. This prompted both of us to scramble to find any sort of nearby composition possible, as it was now looking like something would happen.
I settled on a small and somewhat interesting stand of larch trees that resided within an otherwise open meadow. Minutes later, low fog came rolling over the hill in front of me temporarily obscuring the view and then the sun broke through a small gap in the clouds on the horizon. The entire scene before me went ablaze in golden backlit glory. The rain-soaked larches glowed as the sun shined behind their dripping wet needles. Heavy fog on the nearby slopes to the west descended and then receded toward the summit. At that moment the scene couldn't have been any more perfect. Everything before me looked surreal. All I could do was keep clicking the shutter.
I managed to get about 20 shots off (this was one of them) and then decided to try and find another composition to prepare for colorful underlit clouds at sunset that I knew would be coming. I wasn't quick enough and completely missed it.
This photo didn't really take all that much editing, as the scene already looked incredible out of camera. Focus stacking wasn't needed and even the dynamic range was mostly handled since the sunlight was pretty well diffused from the fog.
This really just turned out to be another case of me getting extremely lucky. Had the two of us been a couple hundred feet higher in elevation, we would have been socked in for this entire show. A couple hundred feet lower and it wouldn't have been the same effect with most of the show going on overhead. We simply lucked into being in the right position.
Man... what a sweet shot! Love the light in this, I will have to come back to read your write up as I am just about to head out the door to Disneyland for the day...
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