On this outing, I learned what I should have known, that you can’t always trust old guidebooks for accurate information, especially in the case of scenic views for landscape photography.
I’m a sucker for old Pacific Northwest trail guides when I come across them in thrift shops. I’m always looking for new locations to explore, and sometimes these old books have destinations some of the newer guidebooks exclude. Some for good reason.
Not that any trip into nature is bad; it’s just when I’m outdoors, I like to bring back photographs to share my experience.
I have an old copy of “Cross-County Ski Trails of Washington’s Cascades & Olympics,” circa 1983. When the words “views” and “clear cuts” are mentioned in a 34-year-old guidebook, that should have been a clue for me. Over time, clear cuts grow back and become forests.
I chose a route, just down the hill from White Pass, Washington, along Gifford Pinchot National Forest Road 1284, titled Route 71: Yellow Jacket Road. Quotes from the book include: “…maximum views for a minimum climb…”, “…the best in mountain scenery…”. That it was, at one time, until the trees grew back.
All kidding aside, it was a beautiful day on my snowshoes. The weather was perfect, with warm spring temperatures and partly cloudy skies. I traveled about 7 miles round-trip with only a 480-foot elevation gain (a nice easy route since I haven’t been on my snowshoes for a little while).
Through the forest, I could see the beauty of the Washington Cascades and the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area as outlined in the guidebook. And even in a few areas, I could get mostly clear photographs of the surrounding mountains free of trees sticking out within the frame of my photo.
One mistake I made was not bringing my poles along for the hike. Why would I need them for such an easy trip? I would soon find out why they would have been a good item to bring along.
At the end of the road, I climbed a snow-covered embankment to get a better perspective to photograph Old Snowy Mountain, and while ascending, I slipped a little but thought nothing of it.
It wasn’t until later, on the hike back to my car, that I realized that I pulled a groin muscle. Oh, how I wish I had my poles with me then. It was a very painful walk out. You don’t know how great it felt when the sight of my Land Cruiser came into view just before darkness fell.
It wasn’t the most productive day of photographing the Washington Cascades as I had hoped, but I returned with some landscape photographs that I like. And any day in nature is a great day in my book.
