Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Fall in the Gorge I

I love the fall. It's a great time here with fast moving storms and color. Whenever things look promising and I can get away, I'll head to my closest playground, the Columbia Gorge. It's also amazing how fast things can change in an hour near sunset.

When I first arrived and walked to the Columbia River near Beacon Rock State Park, elk tracks were along the shore, and a family of eagles was hovering over Pierce Island just to the east.
Looking east, with fall colors, eagles and changing clouds
 Moments later, to the west, the sun emerged again to display some amazing colors in the clouds. A strong, low, blue-gray cloud formed overhead, twisting and turning in the wind just above me.
Beautiful warm west light and cool blue light from the north

After the display was fading, the color to the NE near Beacon Rock was developing, so I ran with my gear and tripod over slippery, moss covered stones to a better vantage point with Beacon Rock and Hamilton Mountain.
Fast fading color to the NE
The warm colors receded and darkness approached quickly. A dead Turkey Vulture was in my path along the shore. It seemed fitting to see another cycle in nature. Clouds were still on the move, so I headed nearer to Beacon Rock. Silver Salmon were jumping as I set up the tripod and took some longer exposures of the dynamic motion as darkness approached.

Darkness approaches in the Gorge