Olympic Old Growth Forest Hike

[Miguel Delinquento]

I’m joining the flood of Pacific NW landscape shots flooding the forum. After all, things turn soggy and gray in the middle of October, so we have to get our licks in while we can.

On Sunday my family and I hiked the Skokomish south fork river trail in the southeast corner of the Olympic National Forest. This is a old growth forest. The trail itself is quite historic and has been used for 102 years (that’s old for these here parts) dating back to original homestead claims. It’s great for kids too and is only 1.5 hours from our home including ferry transit. We’ve decided to adopt this trail as our family teaching forest to document the four seasons and associated changes.

Photographing in an old growth hemlock and Douglas fir forest is an exercise in capturing changes in lighting and observing how various natural forms complement each other. The drama is pretty much all around you--from taking in 400 year old trees, to marveling how three trees can regenerate out of an ancient fallen one.

All taken with a Pentax K20D, Pentax DA 12-24mm or a Pentax DA 70mm Ltd

Hiking Boy

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574910_8kmLU-L.jpg

Old Growth Tree and Ferns

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574247_mma3X-L.jpg


Maidenhair Ferns

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574392_Gz4mh-L.jpg

Forest Floor

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574692_wYjQU-L.jpg

Moss and Leaves

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574318_onZ7v-M.jpg

Kids by Cascade

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574441_4tE8X-M.jpg

Skokomish River South Fork

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574136_wZcyC-L.jpg

Three Trees Out of One

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574807_RMgWY-L.jpg

It's Big

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574509_RU4xZ-M.jpg

Forest Light

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/617574573_KUs2Q-L.jpg


Comments always welcome.

M

[thapamd]

LOVE the 2nd and 3rd shots. :clap Isn't living in the PNW just awesome?! On the 2nd shot, I find that light colored, long twig at the bottom right a little distracting. I may have been tempted to clone it out. :D

Cute kids, BTW. :D

[scole]

Welcome aboard. We'll have our own subforum soon enough! :D Also nice to see another Pentaxian.

Love the Maidenhair Fern photo. The greens, textures and radial patterns of the fronds are awesome. :thumb

[dseidman]

I'm really liking #4 with all that green! The rest of the series is great as well.

Man, there sure are a lot of us PNWers on this forum.

[Miguel Delinquento]

Thanks Mahesh. Yep, that twig clone job is on the "get to it" list.
I've lived in Washington 32 years and have hiked a thousand miles throughout the state. It's always different and always camera worthy. Whether my body is camera worthy or not is a different story. :scratch

M
LOVE the 2nd and 3rd shots. :clap Isn't living in the PNW just awesome?! On the 2nd shot, I find that light colored, long twig at the bottom right a little distracting. I may have been tempted to clone it out. :D

Cute kids, BTW. :D

[Miguel Delinquento]

Thanks Steve. If you haven't obtained the DA 12-24mm yet I recommend you do so next. For you non-Pentaxians it's very similar to the Tokina 12-24mm which Pentax designed. This is my only zoom with printed output that equals single focal length quality. A little heavy but worthwhile.

I like your Glacier Peak shots. That is the least appreciated glacier in the state I'm thinking. My wife and I spent two amazing weeks backpacking and bushwhacking away from everyone (except the black flies) there. I'll have to dig up my slides and see if reality matches my memory (this was in the early 90s prior to my going digital).

M

Welcome aboard. We'll have our own subforum soon enough! :D Also nice to see another Pentaxian.

Love the Maidenhair Fern photo. The greens, textures and radial patterns of the fronds are awesome. :thumb

[Miguel Delinquento]

Thanks Danny.
My guess is that there is a lot of us because we have so much material to shoot: Ocean, glaciers, rain forest, desert, rivers and cities all within a couple of hours of metro areas.

M

I'm really liking #4 with all that green! The rest of the series is great as well.

Man, there sure are a lot of us PNWers on this forum.