On December 19th my son-in-law, Scott, and I went out with our cameras to Larrabee State Park in the Chuckanut Mountains south of Bellingham. The Chuckanuts are a low range of mountains that connect the North Cascades with the sea - with Puget Sound to be more accurate. We hiked the short trail to Clayton Beach and took some time exposures of a small waterfall and of the sea, of the Madrones and of anything else we could find, though on a dull winter day there was not a lot to photograph.
Note: the strange formations are Chuckanut Sandstone weathered by the wind and waves.
On December 22 we were out again, this time to Sharpe Park on Fidalgo Island. It was a dull day once again and the Madrones were the main item of interest - Sharpe Park has some of the most beautiful old Madrones I've seen anywhere. We hiked the trails to Sares Head with its great views of the islands and the Sound and then hiked along the bluffs and back to the car. As always at this time of the year we photographed anything we could find including some mushrooms and fungi.
Note: the Madrones are Arbutus menziesii, a tree found only along the Pacific Coast.
