Hiking around Bowman Bay

Saturday was too beautiful of a day to sit around indoors, so Ron and I decided to hike around Bowman Bay, near Deception Pass. Ron wanted to scout around for a place where we could come and get an early morning shot of the bridge.....hopefully with a little morning fog in the photo. Bowman Bay is one of our favorite places to go.....it's never very busy, and there is a beautiful beach, wonderful dock and a protected bay to kayak in.

The trail around the bay is quite steep in places.......I wished that I would have worn my hiking boots. The trail goes all the way around the point and then ends up with a view of Deception Pass bridge. We also hiked out to an outer pennisula, which gives you a clear view of the bridge, but Ron liked the closer view better.

The trail is a bit narrow in a couple of spots, and straight down to the rocks below.....but the view is fantastic!

It looks the park service is going to install a wire fence at this point of the trail......where it is straight down to the rocky beach. It will make it a lot safer.

The seagrass that grows along the trail that parallels the beach, is really beautiful.

A view of Deception Pass Bridge from the outer pennisula.

Enjoying the sun along the beach trail.

Ron hiked down from the highway, and found the place that he wants to go back to, to get the shot he was looking for. It was straight down this cliff from the highway.....but we can actually access the same place hiking the trail from Bowman Bay, which will be a lot easier when we're carrying photography equipment. Now we just need to wait for the right day to go back.

The amount of water that passes through this channel is incredible.....and it moves extremely fast. I've seen boats that have their engines at full throttle and can just keep their boat in one spot......they don't make any progress.....their boat is going one direction as fast as the tide is going another. You don't want to go through the pass when the tide is changing. High tide is the best, or low tide as well. But when the tide is moving through here, the undercurrents create huge swirling whirlpools and can really throw a boat. (I speak from experience!) The first time Ron and I ever saw Deception Pass, our jaws dropped because it was so beautiful. It still is.....just 20 times more traffic over the bridge. Keep your fingers crossed that we can get a great shot with fog, this falll.

The Other Side of the Mountain

"The bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain, to see what he could see.".......well, maybe not the bear, but how about the "truck went over the mountain.......". Ron and I went in search of fall colors today......we didn't find any until we had gotten over Stevens Pass, and then the mountains just exploded with color.....bright red vine maples, red huckleberry bushes and yellow maples among others. The challenge was trying to find a spot to take a photo that would work.

This little pond caught our eye......it was right beside the highway, so we had to find a place to pull off, and then walked back to this pond. The reflection was nice.

I had to try a multiple exposure, just to see what it would look like.......it turned out sort of like an impressionistic painting. (this is 10 exposures together.)

Vine maples are so gorgeous! I would love to plant several in our yard.

We drove up to Lake Wenatchee, but the colors were less intense there, and we couldn't find the right shot.....but I thought this maple tree among all the fir trees really stood out. We drove down to the west end of the lake.....it got a bit bumpy.....Ron kept wishing that we could put the truck into 4-wheel drive.

At the very top of Stevens Pass, just past the Ski Resort, we pulled off the highway along a powerline road. The entire hillside was covered in brilliant color. I wish that we could have gotten closer, but we couldn't find a way up the hillside, so we had to be satisfied just using the telephoto for this shot. At least it gives you an idea of how colorful the whole area was.

We started driving along the powerline road, but it didn't get us anywhere.....but the trees were still beautiful.

I love the fall.....it brings back great memories of when I was a kid growing up in Eastern Oregon, and the times we could go up in the mountains to chop wood, or visit our friend's cabin, or go snowmobiling. I love the smell of the pines on the east side of the Cascades.....there's just a different feel to the forest there.

October is my favorite month....probably because of the coziness that it brings......crisp nights, still warm days, fire in the fireplace and the smell of cinnamon rolls baking. Most of all, it brings memories of times with my family. I sure wish that I could share some of this with all my grandchildren. I think of the Thanksgiving hymn "For the Beauty of the Earth", when I see the colors and splendor of fall....and then count my blessings. We live in such a beautiful world.