Touring Washington On US 101
Saturday afternoon. Slightly cloudy sky and a breeze to match. Not too hot, not too cold. Temperature is just right.
We hop in the car and decide to go for a ride. We do this often since Washington offers so much beautiful nature to look at and appreciate.
I almost forgot to take my camera....YIPES!!!! Can't do that! The whole trip would have been ruined then...not really, but wouldn't have been as good.
We head north out of Olympia, Washington on the US 101. We don't have a whole lot of time left in the day, but we try to enjoy what daylight we have left. One weekend, we are going to leave early Saturday morning and tour the complete US 101 loop from Olympia to Aberdeen, Washington. I hear that there is so much to look at on the way, I know that it will take a couple of days to do it in.
One of the first places we stop at is Lake Armstrong. We don't actually go up to the lake, but I did see a waterfall near the road. So we stopped there so I could capture a couple of photos.
After I took the photos, I realized that I should have had my tripod with me. Instead, I balanced my camera on the toe of my shoe or on a mossy rock. Then I had to carefully press the shutter button in order to not disturb the camera too much.
I set my camera on the Tv setting so that the lens would stay open for a couple of seconds. I got many great shots, but only a couple were good enough to me to share.
Then we went along down the road and had to stop at a couple of parking areas. There I found some of the most interesting tree roots. They sure make for some great photos.
I took a couple of pictures of this one and then began to walk away from it. As I got closer to the root, I noticed these great patterns in the wood. I had to take some extreme closeups of them. They were very interesting, to say the least.
We went up the road a bit more. Stopped in a couple of cute little towns to just check them out. Then continued. We were running out of daylight and I wanted to try to make the best out what we had left.
As we were driving along, I noticed a campground sign that said "Falls View." Oh, man, you're kidding. A waterfall? Can't pass that up, so we drove in.
We came to a small parking lot where there were two paths. One of the signs said, "Falls View - 1000'". It pointed to a trail that went down the side of the mountain.
Okay, so what's the best way to photograph a waterfall? From the bottom of it, of course, so we headed down the trail. Now, we haven't been hiking since we were kids, so I knew that we were biting off a little more than we could chew. We took it slow just to be safe. I caught a couple of photos of ourselves along the way.
Once we got to the bottom of the trail, I was quite dissapointed. I couldn't see any waterfalls at all. There was just a small creek and a large river. The creek had it's own little waterfall, so I didn't waste the hike so much. I did get some great shots from there.
Then I tried some shots of the river but didn't like the outcome, so they got dumped! Then I looked around for any other possible shots. That is when I noticed a hint of the real waterfalls. It was on the otherside of the river around the corner. The most that I could see was some of the water splatter into the river. No sight of the falls at all. What a dissapointment.
We hiked, slowly, very slowly, back up the 1000' trail. Yeah, my foot 1000'. Maybe straight down!!!
Anyway, we got to the top and then stared at the entrance to the other trail. Do we dare? Just then another hiker came out from behind one of the bushes from that trail. We spoke to him for a little while. He said that you could see the waterfalls from that trail about 50' away.
Really!! We went on that trail and sure enough! It was level and then opened up to a huge landing that let you see the full wraith of the waterfalls. Again, I tried a couple of shots. We couldn't really get close enough at all to get some good ones. Too bad. I did manage to save one of them anyway.
We left there to explore some more of US101. At a little town of Quilcene, Washington, I decided that we had better start heading back for home. So, we went on over to the Hood Canal Bridge and then on to Brememton. From there, we decided to stay on WA Hwy 3 and head towards Shelton, Washington. It would be a lot faster going that way to home than to go through Tacoma.
We didn't really see too much along the way to photograph. The views were beautiful, but nothing to really take with me forever, so we just kept driving.
Just then, as the sun began to set, I noticed what a spectacular sunset it was going to be. I watched the tree line along the road for the perfect place to stop. Finally one opened up. It was the most awesome sunset. I clicked for almost a 1/2 hour trying to capture different views of the sun setting. Here is the most perfect end to the most wonderful day out on a photo shoot.
I got back in the car and then headed for home. It was a great day for taking pictures. It was a great and satisfying photo shoot.
We hop in the car and decide to go for a ride. We do this often since Washington offers so much beautiful nature to look at and appreciate.
I almost forgot to take my camera....YIPES!!!! Can't do that! The whole trip would have been ruined then...not really, but wouldn't have been as good.
We head north out of Olympia, Washington on the US 101. We don't have a whole lot of time left in the day, but we try to enjoy what daylight we have left. One weekend, we are going to leave early Saturday morning and tour the complete US 101 loop from Olympia to Aberdeen, Washington. I hear that there is so much to look at on the way, I know that it will take a couple of days to do it in.
One of the first places we stop at is Lake Armstrong. We don't actually go up to the lake, but I did see a waterfall near the road. So we stopped there so I could capture a couple of photos.
After I took the photos, I realized that I should have had my tripod with me. Instead, I balanced my camera on the toe of my shoe or on a mossy rock. Then I had to carefully press the shutter button in order to not disturb the camera too much.
I set my camera on the Tv setting so that the lens would stay open for a couple of seconds. I got many great shots, but only a couple were good enough to me to share.
Then we went along down the road and had to stop at a couple of parking areas. There I found some of the most interesting tree roots. They sure make for some great photos.
I took a couple of pictures of this one and then began to walk away from it. As I got closer to the root, I noticed these great patterns in the wood. I had to take some extreme closeups of them. They were very interesting, to say the least.
We went up the road a bit more. Stopped in a couple of cute little towns to just check them out. Then continued. We were running out of daylight and I wanted to try to make the best out what we had left.
As we were driving along, I noticed a campground sign that said "Falls View." Oh, man, you're kidding. A waterfall? Can't pass that up, so we drove in.
We came to a small parking lot where there were two paths. One of the signs said, "Falls View - 1000'". It pointed to a trail that went down the side of the mountain.
Okay, so what's the best way to photograph a waterfall? From the bottom of it, of course, so we headed down the trail. Now, we haven't been hiking since we were kids, so I knew that we were biting off a little more than we could chew. We took it slow just to be safe. I caught a couple of photos of ourselves along the way.
Once we got to the bottom of the trail, I was quite dissapointed. I couldn't see any waterfalls at all. There was just a small creek and a large river. The creek had it's own little waterfall, so I didn't waste the hike so much. I did get some great shots from there.
Then I tried some shots of the river but didn't like the outcome, so they got dumped! Then I looked around for any other possible shots. That is when I noticed a hint of the real waterfalls. It was on the otherside of the river around the corner. The most that I could see was some of the water splatter into the river. No sight of the falls at all. What a dissapointment.
We hiked, slowly, very slowly, back up the 1000' trail. Yeah, my foot 1000'. Maybe straight down!!!
Anyway, we got to the top and then stared at the entrance to the other trail. Do we dare? Just then another hiker came out from behind one of the bushes from that trail. We spoke to him for a little while. He said that you could see the waterfalls from that trail about 50' away.
Really!! We went on that trail and sure enough! It was level and then opened up to a huge landing that let you see the full wraith of the waterfalls. Again, I tried a couple of shots. We couldn't really get close enough at all to get some good ones. Too bad. I did manage to save one of them anyway.
We left there to explore some more of US101. At a little town of Quilcene, Washington, I decided that we had better start heading back for home. So, we went on over to the Hood Canal Bridge and then on to Brememton. From there, we decided to stay on WA Hwy 3 and head towards Shelton, Washington. It would be a lot faster going that way to home than to go through Tacoma.
We didn't really see too much along the way to photograph. The views were beautiful, but nothing to really take with me forever, so we just kept driving.
Just then, as the sun began to set, I noticed what a spectacular sunset it was going to be. I watched the tree line along the road for the perfect place to stop. Finally one opened up. It was the most awesome sunset. I clicked for almost a 1/2 hour trying to capture different views of the sun setting. Here is the most perfect end to the most wonderful day out on a photo shoot.
I got back in the car and then headed for home. It was a great day for taking pictures. It was a great and satisfying photo shoot.
