mount baker-snoqualmie national forest

Mount Baker from Huntoon Point

Sunset light in the clouds above Mount Baker – photographed from Huntoon Point, Washington State.

mount baker fall foliage sunset from huntoon point washington

Mount Baker and Fall Foliage at Huntoon Point (Purchase)

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   As I have indicated in other posts, fall is the time of year I usually visit the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington State. I usually photograph Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan, and the other North Cascade peaks and ranges in the area. Sometimes I am there along with some great fall foliage as well, though it has a much different look than near sea level. Where I live this leaf color is usually dominated by Bigleaf Maples, Vine Maples, and a few other species. Up in the mountains near Mount Baker, much of the color comes from smaller trees and shrubs such as the Vaccinium species (Blueberries / Huckleberries etc) and Sitka Mountain Ash (Sorbus sitchensis) as shown in the first photograph here. There is always a lot to photograph in the area between Picture Lake, the Chain Lakes, and Huntoon Point on Kulshan Ridge, even if there isn’t a nice sunset. One of my favourite spots and I always find new compositions when I am there.

mount baker sunset from huntoon point washington

Sunset at Mount Baker (Purchase)

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   When there is a nice sunset sometimes it can be difficult to photograph Mount Baker in that light. From this area you are looking southwest towards Mt. Baker. This can be problematic if the clouds aren’t cooperating in lessening the bright to dark one finds in looking from west to east across that view. Luckily there was some thin cloud cover in most of the sky, but not far to the west where the sun was free to shine through. These were near perfect conditions for sunset there, which I have not seen before myself. There was even some great light over the mountains to the north (the Border Peaks, for example) as well as above Mount Shuksan to the east.

mount baker after sunset from huntoon point washington

Mount Baker after the sunset (Purchase)

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Visit my Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest gallery for more photographs from this evening as well as the surrounding area.

Bagley Lakes and Trails Through Heather Meadows

Two hikers make their way up the Chain Lakes Trail to the Heather Meadows parking lot in the Bagley Lakes/Heather Meadows area of Washington State, USA.

two hikers on the chain lakes trail at bagley lakes heather meadows

Two Hikers on the Chain Lakes Trail by Bagley Lakes (Purchase)

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   Almost every year I make a trip to the Mount Baker area to photograph during the fall season. At this time of year almost all of the snow has melted, the summer heat is gone as have the bugs that often come with it. Heather Meadows is one of the areas I always walk through and photograph. I stop and look at the wonderful view from Picture Lake, but I rarely photograph there. In recent years the behaviour of other photographers has helped me move on quickly

   The first photograph above shows two hikers heading up to the parking lot on the Chain Lakes Trail. The section of the Chain Lakes Trail by Bagley Lakes is one of the trails I frequent with many great views of the lakes and surrounding mountains. One of the difficulties of completing the Chain Lakes Trail in its entirety is where to park your vehicle. If you part at Artist Point, when you get the the area photographed here you still have a 250 meter (820 feet) elevation climb to the parking lot. If you park here at Heather Meadows, you start with that climb. Wishing to avoid that, many park at Artist Point but ask for a ride from those visiting the lower parking lot. I gave the first gentleman in this photograph a ride to his truck so he could drive back down and pick up his hiking companion at Heather Meadows. There was a small lineup of families and individual hikers wanting the same. I’m sure some were out of luck and had to make the climb back to the car.

mount herman and bagley lakes at heather meadows

Mount Herman and Bagley Lakes (Purchase)

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   The second photo was made from the Fire and Ice Trail which has a nice lookout over Bagley Lakes. This was the spot I made one of my favourite panorama photographs and this time made a few photographs of the colour in the water, fall foliage on the side of Mount Herman, and the peak near Herman Saddle. I’ve made the hike to the saddle before, and hope to do it again in the coming years when I have time. The view from up there is pretty awesome!

blooming subalpine aster eurybia merita at heather meadows

Late blooming Subalpine Aster (Eurybia merita) (Purchase)

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   One of the things I was not expecting along the various trails were some late blooming Subalpine Aster (Eurybia merita) flowers. This was fairly late in the fall season (at this elevation) and I had figured that any wildflowers would have been long gone. Perhaps this spot had much more snow to melt during the summer and consequently the flowers here were a bit behind the others in the area. I had planned on heading back to Artist Point and Heather Meadows the next week. Seasons change quickly in the mountains and this area had so much snow just a few days after my visit they closed to road to Artist point. I’m lucky I made it up there when I did, but I guess other opportunities for hiking there will have to wait until next July/August at the earliest.

For more of my photography from Heather Meadows visit my Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Gallery.

Bagley Lakes Panorama

Panorama of the Bagley lakes in the Mount-Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington State, USA.

bagley lakes view fall panorama

Panorama of Bagley Lake (Purchase)

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You can see this view of Bagley Lakes from the Fire and Ice Trail in the Heather Meadows area of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. This lake lies between Table Mountain (left) and Mount Herman – the Chain Lakes Trail runs right past it on the way up to Herman Saddle. I still have a lot more in this area to explore with my camera, but I was quite happy to find the lake with these sorts of colours and water levels. On the right you can see where the Chain Lakes Trail goes over a rocky slope that extends right down to the water. Now that my new computer doesn’t choke on larger resolution files, I was able to make this image with two rows of vertical images (35 of them) for the extra resolution which is how I try to shoot all my panoramas now. This worked very well, and I hope to see this one printed in the future.

The talus slope in the middle of the frame is where I photographed an American Pika a few years back. I could hear a few cheeping their warning calls while I was shooting this panorama but I wasn’t able to spot any of them.

You can view more of my photography from Heather Meadows in my Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Gallery.

Mount Larrabee in the North Cascades Range

A lone fir tree stands in front of Mount Larrabee in the North Cascades of Washington State, USA.

mount larrabee and lone fir tree

Mount Larrabee in the North Cascades (Purchase)

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   After I photographed the Heather Meadows area in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest last year, I vowed to spend a bit more time there during my next visit. So a few weeks ago I photographed several compositions I had my eye on last year, but which conditions were not right for at the time. This is one of those scenes – a large fir tree standing out against the sky with a backdrop of Mount Larrabee in the North Cascades Range. I photographed this view from the short Fire and Ice Trail in the Heather Meadows area which shows great views of the Bagley Lakes, some of the North Cascade peaks, and Table Mountain.

For more photography from this location visit my Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Gallery.

Mount Shuksan Tarn Reflection

Mount Shuksan reflected in a tarn on Huntoon Point in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Forest, Washington State, USA.

reflection of mount shuksan in a north cascades tarn

Tarn Reflection of Mount Shuksan at Huntoon Point

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   Last fall I published a number of posts from a trip to the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest as I traveled up Highway 542 to Artist Point. When you walk SE from the Artist Point parking lot along Kulshan Ridge to Huntoon Point, you may reach this small tarn that can show great reflections of Mount Shuksan. This is not an unpopular photography location, though it is certainly much less photographed than a reflection from Picture Lake. This was my first time at this tarn, and I was treated to very still waters in the tarn that yielded a near perfect reflection of Mount Shuksan.

For Prints, Licenses and more photography from this location visit my Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest Gallery.

Table Mountain from Heather Meadows

Table Mountain and Heather Meadows area near sunset at the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington State.

table mountain at sunset from heather meadows

Table Mountain at Sunset from Heather Meadows (Purchase)

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   This photograph of Table Mountain was first published here on my blog back in 2009 but has since been reprocessed to bring out a few more details in the sky and the foreground. The path here leads down to the Bagley lakes and trails that lead further up towards Herman Saddle and the lakes to the west. One of my favourite spots to stop while visiting the area as there is a wide variety of subjects to photograph.

You can view more of my photography from this and surrounding areas in my Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Gallery.

Road to Artist Point at Mount Baker

The Mount Baker Highway (SR 542) winds towards Artist Point in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington State, USA

road to artist point in the north cascades

The road to Artist Point

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   Having finished photographing the Heather Meadows area back in early October, I headed up the Mount Baker Highway to Artist Point. These three photographs were made from Artist Point, but show the highway (SR 542) on the way up between Heather Meadows and Artist Point.

parking spot near artist point under table mountain north cascades

A scenic parking spot in the North Cascades

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   I photographed this small car in this way to not only include some of the late evening light on the rocks above (the lower part of Table Mountain) but also to make it look a bit like a car in the middle of nowhere. The photograph below shows the scene in a bit more context. I think someone had pulled out into that spot for a nap, even when I left after dark they were still in there with the back hatch open.

scenic parking spot near artist point in the north cascades

Scenic parking spot near Artist Point

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You can view more of my photography from the North Cascades in my North Cascades Gallery.

Heather Meadows Fall Foliage

   During my recent trip to the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington State, I photographed a variety of scenes around Picture Lake, Heather Meadows and Artist Point/Kulshan Ridge. In my previous post I showed a few of the photographs from the Heather Meadows area that included peaks of the North Cascades. In this post I have a few more images of fall foliage colors from Heather Meadows, but these scenes are not as wide in scope and in the case of the first image here (my favourite), a bit abstract.

sky reflection in austin pass lake at heather meadows in the fall

Austin Pass Lake Reflections at Heather Meadows (Purchase)

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   I think the above photograph of Austin Pass Lake is my favourite of these four images. I had already photographed a wider view of the the area and then tried to isolate the details at this end of the lake. I liked how the clouds looked a bit like they were flowing from the inlet out into the lake.

mount herman fall reflection in austin pass lake at heather meadows

Mount Herman Reflecting in Austin Pass Lake at Heather Meadows (Purchase)

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   A similar angle on Austin Pass Lake to the first photograph but this time with the reflection of Mount Herman.

photographer and fall colour heather meadows

Photographer/Hiker at Heather Meadows (Purchase)

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   Can you spot the hiker/photographer in this photograph? I don’t photograph all that many people but when someone stands still in a place like this it is a good way to show the scale of the scene. Reminds me a bit of my photograph of Silver Falls in Mount Rainier National Park where someone standing in the scene really gave an indication of its scale.

terminal lake panroama at heather meadows

Terminal Lake below Table Mountain (Purchase)

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   I liked the fall foliage colors in this landscape around Terminal Pass Lake in Heather Meadows (below Table Mountain). Everything here almost seems to be going westward (to the right). The water looks to be flowing into the lake, and the rocks look a bit like they are flowing down the talus slopes. The trail (the Fire and Ice Trail I believe) is leading you in that direction as well.

You can view more of my photography from this and surrounding areas in my Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Gallery.