Revisit Mash Island Seattle

Marsh Island is on the north end of the Washington Arboretum.  The Arboretum's Waterfront Trail can lead you to Marsh and Foster Islands.

I visited it in the early Autumn. Yesterday, I took that trail again, but arrived at West Montlake Park, wanted to see the remaining Fall colors over the water with my 35mm Lens.

3 miles trail from WA Park to West Montlake Park through Marsh Island

Fall colors are still visible on the trail

Fall colors along the trail to Foster island

There are a couple hundreds feet of floating bridge that connects Foster island and East Montlake Park through Marsh island. Its surrendering views are pretty awesome in the nice day. Here you can see the bridge, union bay and the stadium of the University of Washington (UW).

Floating bridge over the bay with the UW stadium in view on front

Early morning it's good time to spend for few hours bird watching. Usually there are eagle, heron, geese and ducks wandering in this area. Today I noticed one heron stayed on the wood stick. I regretted not bring my Tele-lens to catch a nicer picture.

A heron enjoyed the view of the Marsh Island

From the end of the Marsh island, you can walk along the Montlake Cut on Arboretum Waterfront Trail to cross Montlake Bridge and arrive at the West Montlake Park. Here is one capture from its north east corner:

Montlake Cut and Montlake Bridge on the West Montlake Park

Trip to Winthrop WA

Introduction

Winthrop is a small western-themed town on east of Washington state, on State Highway 20. It's just on the east of North Cascade National Park. It's on the east of Mazama and north of Twisp.

Winthrop is known for the American Old West design of all the building in town. It is popular cross-country skiing, rock climbing. hiking. mountain biking, river rafting, horse-back riding, and etc.

Trip from Seattle to Winthrop

I have planned this trip for a while. Fall and winter are the good seasons to enjoy the colors and winter scenes. But I picked up the Labor Day long weekend to pay the first visit. I started from Seattle, took I-90 Highway, and backed from State Highway 20, I-5 Highway. During 13 hours' trip, I stopped on few points to either have lunch, or had short time breaks.

Route from Seattle to Winthrop back and forth, Sept 2018

          Legend:

                  A - Seattle
                  B - Wenatchee
                  C - Lake Entiat
                  D - Winthrop
                  E - Washington Pass
                  F - Diablo Lake Overlook

HWY 97 near Cle Elum, 2018

A barn near Cle Elum and Ellensburg, 2018

Lake Entita, 2018

Downtown Winthrop, 2018

Winthrop Town Hall, 2018

Spring Creek Suspension Bridge, Winthrop, 2018

Downtown Winthrop, 2018

Shafer Museum, Winthrop, 2018

Washington Pass, 2018

Diablo Lake, 2018

Mazama Ridge, Mount Rainier

This summer the wild fires in northern California and BC Canada caused the air quality on Seattle region pretty bad. But today the weather in Mount Rainier was forecast sunny, and the air quality improved little bit. So I picked the weekend to try out Mazama Ridge near Paradise visitor center.

Mazama Ridge is very popular place for photographers. Usually August is the best season for the wild flowers. In sunset moments, Mountains (Mount Rainier, Tatoosh Mountains) would provide the beautiful contrasts for photographing.

As usually, I drove to pass Paradise Visitor center, and continued about one mile down the Paradise Valley, and parked in the small parking lots, which is just over the creek. I picked Fourth Crossing Trail, and arrived up to the ridge just half mile causal hiking.

Step stairs on the Mazama Ridge towards Mount Rainier, 2018

The hot weather in the past month caused the wild flowers to skip their prime season for blooming.

Mazama Ridge towards Tatoosh Mountains

Mazama Ridge towards Mount Rainier, 2018

Mazama Ridge towards Mount Rainier, 2018

Beargrass on the Mazama Ridge, 2018

Wild flowers in Edith Creek Basin

Beargrass on the Mazama Ridge, 2018

Rainier Wildflowers and the Tatoosh Range from Mazama Ridge, 2018

Beautiful Sunset with mixture of smoke, 2018

Ruby Beach, WA

Ruby Beach is one of the beaches on the west coast of the Washington state. There is a tremendous amount of driftwood. It's notable for the number of sea stacks over there.

Ruby Beach

Ruby Beach stays just about 10 miles north of Kalaloch lodge. It has a pretty big parking lots. From there you just need take the trail about half a mile down the hill, pass the drift wood area, and you will arrive at the beach. During the lower tide period, the beach is very big for you to enjoy.

Here are two shots few minutes before the sunset:

Sunset at Ruby Beach

Sunset at Ruby Beach

Ruby Beach is also one of the best beaches on the west coast for night photographing. Here are few of them I took on this trip:

Milkyway

Milkyway

Milkyway

Milkyway

Milkyway

Marsh Island, Seattle

Marsh Island is on the north end of the Washington Arboretum.  The Arboretum's Waterfront Trail can lead you to Marsh and Foster Islands.

A floating pathway is set on the north end of the Union bay, so you can park your car in the parking lot of the Washington Arboretum, and then walk north along the tail, and walk along the path under Hwy-520 bridge, across water to the Foster Island and Marsh Island.

Marsh Island loop from Washington Arboretum Park

You can start the trip in the sunny day, and you'd better take a pair of waterproof hiking shoes. The path along the island are walkable during the non-rainy season, but few sections are either under the water or moist. With the waterproof hiking shoes, you can spend more time on enjoying the birds and pretty views.

After you cross the hwy-520, the open view you will see is the open picnic area near the lake. This is call Foster Point in the Foster Island. From here you can enjoy the view of the Union Bay, and Hwy-520 floating bridge on the east side.

Hwy-520 floating bridge viewed from Foster Point

From the Foster Point, you will find the path to Marsh Island on the left. The trail is pretty enjoyable, and the view is fantastic. 

Water lilies in Marsh Island

Northeast view from Marsh Island

Kayakers and water lilies

Kayakers and water lilies

Montlake Cut and Montlake Bridge viewed from
Lake Washington Ship Canal Waterside Trail

Falls color trip to Mt Baker

Dry Falls/Streamboat Rock/Grand Coulee

Dry Falls is a 3.5-mile-long (5,600 m) scalloped precipice in central Washington, on the opposite side of the Upper Grand Coulee from the Columbia River, and at the head of the Lower Grand Coulee.

According to the current geological model, catastrophic flooding channeled water at 65 miles per hour through the Upper Grand Coulee and over this 400-foot (120 m) rock face at the end of the last ice age. It is estimated that the falls were five times the width of Niagara, with ten times the flow of all the current rivers in the world combined [wiki].

Steamboat Rock State Park is located near the north end of Banks Lake in the Grand Coulee, about 3,522-acre in size.

Its name is taken from the landscape's dominating feature, Steamboat Rock, a basalt butte that rises 800 feet above the lake which nearly completely surrounds it. The butte's plateau covers more than 600 acres and was used by nomadic Native American tribes and by early settlers.

During the last Ice Age, the monolith stood as an island in the new bed of the Columbia River where it had been diverted by ice dams. Once the dams burst creating massive floods, the Columbia returned to its original course, leaving Steamboat Rock as a prominent feature of the dry Grand Coulee.

Road on Grand Coulee, 2017/09/16

Road on Grand Coulee, 2017/09/16

Power lines from Grand Coulee Dam, 2017/09/17

Dry Falls

Dry Falls Overlook, 2017/09/16

Dry Falls Overlook, 2017/09/16

Steamboat Rock

Road on Grand Coulee approaching Steamboat Rock, 2017/09/16

Sunset at Steamboat Rock State Park, 2017/09/16

Grand Coulee

The Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed in the U.S. state of Washington. This National Natural Landmark stretches for about 60 miles (100 km) southwest from Grand Coulee Dam to Soap Lake, being bisected by Dry Falls into the Upper and Lower Grand Coulee.

Upper Grand Coulee next to Steamboat Rock State Park, 2017/09/16

Night view at Banks Lake and Jones Bay

Night approaching Jones Bay, 2017/09/16

Steamboat Rock State Park, 2017/09/16

Steamboat Rock State Park, 2017/09/16

Early Morning at Steamboat Rock

Sunrise in the Jones Bay, 2017/09/17

Sunrise at Steamboat Rock State Park, 2017/09/17