Racehorse Falls

Racehorse Falls and Racehorse Creek empty into the North Fork of the Nooksack River near Welcome Valley and along the side of Slide Mountain.  Both are named for the horse-head-shaped depression near the side of the lower falls visible in some of the photos below.

On the date these pictures were taken I was tired of sitting in my office and decided to go and visit several places that were good for photos.  At one site I took pictures of old machinery and vehicles before going on to the short hike to Lower Racehorse Falls.

There is an upper falls as well, I recently learned, but I have never visited it.  The pictures shown are of the Lower Falls and of the creek below the falls, one of four falls on the creek.  The Lower Falls drop a total of forty-eight feet.

Nooksack Falls and Mount Baker Highway

My youngest brother was in the area for business the week of January 15-21 and we managed to get out for an afternoon, even though the weather was terrible.  That was the week that the Pacific Northwest was nearly brought to a standstill by snow, ice, winds, and cold.  By Saturday the weather had moderated a little and we went to Nooksack Falls where we did some photography.

The road to the falls was closed and so we had to walk to the falls, but it is short walk and at some point the road had been plowed, and the walk was not an inconvenience.  The weather, however, turned to wet snow, and that was an inconvenience with all our camera equipment - we had to keep our cameras under our coats when we weren't using them and we ourselves got soaked.

Nooksack Falls are on the North Fork of the Nooksack River and drop 175 feet into a very narrow cleft in the rocks making it very difficult to photograph the falls.  In fact, the bottom of the falls is barely visible if one stays on the safe side of the fence that surrounds the viewing area, as one ought to do, since the area around the falls is quite dangerous and eight or nine people have died there.

We took pictures not only of the falls but also of the river above the falls and took both time exposures with a tripod as well as hand-held and quicker shots.  Photography was extremely difficult both because the light was fading and because of the strong contrast between the snow and the river and surrounding forests.  Most of my pictures had to be processed a bit to make them worthwhile.

We also made several other stops, but there was little to photograph besides the mossy forests which were rather eerie in the mist and low light.  We did ask on couple who had been snowshoeing in the Hannegan Pass area if we could take their picture as they ate their picnic lunch in rather wintry conditions.  They were more than happy to let us snap away and joked about the pictures we took.

Racehorse Falls

July 27 some of our children were in town for a wedding and since my son-in-law is an avid photographer, we decided to go out for part of the day to Racehorse Falls, a short drive away and a short hike through the woods, though a bit of a scramble over old logs and boulders.  Two of my daughters, my son-in-law and myself were on the excursion.

Racehorse Falls is on Racehorse Creek along the North Fork of the Nooksack River and on the edge of the North Cascades.  The falls and creek are named after a small cave on the edge of the falls that looks exactly like the head of a horse.  The horse's head is especially visible in the first picture to the the viewers left along the edge of the falls.

After the scramble through the old logs and boulders along the creek we spent some time at the falls taking pictures, especially time exposures, and even climbed along the steep bank of the creek to the rock ledges just below the falls, one of the best vantage points.  These, then are some of the pictures we took there, including a few shots of some of my family.

For more information see the following sites:
http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/nws/waterfall.php?num=506
http://ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/09/nooksack-falls-and-racehorse-falls.html

Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest

What an incredible day!  Didn't see or do anything extraordinary, but it has been one of the best days we've had this spring and I managed to get out and up into the mountains for a bit of casual hiking.  Had planned yesterday already on going to Spokane to see our handicapped son, but had some issues with the car and didn't dare drive it that far and went up into the mountains instead.

Went first to Horseshoe Bend, an easy and low elevation hike that follows the north fork of the Nooksack River, and though heavily used is one of the best river walks in the area.  I hiked a couple of miles until the trail petered out along a service road for the power lines and then wandered back, taking a lot of pictures and enjoying the sunshine, warm weather and beautiful scenery.

There wasn't really anything in bloom - in fact there were still patches of snow here and there.  Did see my first Trillium of the year, but it was not quite open yet.  About the only other things of interest beside the river were some fungi and moss, moss and more moss.  There were places where I seemed to be walking through a cathedral made of moss with the branches arching overhead.

The river was very full, since the snow has begun to melt the last few days and I did my best to get some decent time exposures, even though I did not have my neutral density filters along.  The contrast between the sunlit and shady areas made photography quite difficult, and so some of the pictures have been adjusted in Photoshop Elements to lighten shadows or darken highlights.

After returning to the car I went on to the area of Nooksack Falls, hoping to follow the Forest Service road up into the hills, but there was too much snow on the road.  I did stop and take some time exposures of a small unnamed cascade above the falls.  Even there however the sunlight through the trees made photography a bit difficult.

I ended my day at the Hannegan Pass Road, a Forest Service road that was impassable because of the snow still there.  I parked the car in the small area of the car park that was plowed and walked through the snow a ways until I was able to get some shots of Mount Shuksan and the river.  Also found some Skunk Cabbage in a warmer area that were just starting to bloom.