The Mountain in autumn...

[regnaD kciN]

As I've mentioned before, out here on the western side of the Cascades, we have "bottom-up" fall color. Since the vast majority of the trees are evergreens, we don't get the yellow, orange, and red leaves you find over the mountains on the eastern side. Instead, it's the ground-cover -- huckleberry, vine maples, and assorted shrubs -- that change color, providing a bright carpet under the unchanging green of the pines and firs.

Since, for reasons probably related to the El Niño winter last year, this has been a relatively poor autumn for foliage throughout the northwest (the PNW Nature Photographers' "Fall Color Outing" was canceled this year due to, and I quote, "no fall color" ;-) ), my only choice was to forgo the east Cascades aspens and cottonwoods in favor of western ground-cover. Since, this year, I hadn't yet been to Paradise (however many times I'd been to me), it was time to drive up to Rainier and check out autumn on "The Mountain." Fortunately, the poor foliage conditions for trees didn't apply to the shrubs there...










Myrtle Falls




But, as spectacular as the front-lit views of The Mountain were, what really became special was the hike back down, with the backlight turning the bushes into a riot of brilliant color. Although there was no photogenic mountain background, and a constant struggle finding angles that wouldn't be ruined by lens flare, I think these give some idea what the experience was like.