Thursday, January 12, 2012

Bowman Bay at Deception Pass

Fourteen very chilly Trailblazers drove in three cars to Bowman Bay at Deception Pass, about 30-some miles south of Bellingham, to begin our day's hike. It turned out that the slower group was also going to the same place, although they wouldn't cover as much ground as we intended to. As you can see, our day started with mostly blue skies. The other group planned to hike around six miles whereas we had set our sights for around ten miles at a faster pace. We ran into them twice. They were eleven and we were fourteen, so it was quite a sight to see when we were all together!
We hiked up to the old orchard above Pass Lake before returning to the bay to enjoy our lunch in quite a bit of sunshine, but the clouds came and went. As you can see if you look closely, I inadvertently put myself into this picture. The sun is so low at this time of year, it's not always easy to get out of the way. I wandered around the beach looking for some possible shots with the macro feature, and then I found that it functions nothing like my old camera setting. I got this picture of some rocks that washed up behind this bigger rock using the macro:
Not too bad, but also not as close as I was hoping to get. My macro feature kept moving around, depending on whether I decided to use "auto" or a specific setting. Back to the manual for me! I decided to just look down and use the auto setting to get a picture of my feet.
At least when I took this picture I didn't have to worry about the horizon. I cannot believe how many of my pictures are at least two degrees off level, almost always listing to the right. Thank heavens for the "straighten" feature in iPhoto. Without it, most of these pictures would not be displayed, since it embarrasses me to see them. In this one, I actually got almost exactly right, of the Olympic Mountains behind the promontory near us. As you can see, by this time there were way more clouds than blue sky.
We had a pretty wonderful day, actually, covering almost nine miles, depending on the GPS coordinates we used, which went all the way from 8.3 miles to 9.5. I chose to use the "almost nine miles" generic amount, and we did a fair bit of hauling ourselves up and down hills, covering 1,700 feet before the day was done. One thing I really love about this hike is that we see numerous beautiful madrone trees, which have brilliant red bark on the outside and almost chartreuse inner bark. Here's a picture to prove it.
I apparently had a smudge on my brand-new lens, which caused many of my pictures to have what seems to be a washed-out look in the upper middle quadrant. However, I was pleased that it managed to soften our faces in this picture, Holly and me, to make us look rather fabulous standing in front of the Deception Pass Bridge. This is me being shameless about wanting to put a picture of myself in this post. At least Holly is posing with me.
I found the pesky smudge on my camera while we were driving home, and I think it will not be present in any further pictures, but I won't know for sure until I've taken a few more. The main thing is that it was a rather wonderful day, and I happily await my new iPad arriving tomorrow! Life is good.
:-)

28 comments:

  1. haha! I love your "shameless" remark. It made me realize how shameless I was to post my bikini photo. Lol!!!

    Anyway, I thought your pic of the tree trunk was fantastic. I have never seen such brilliant colors on tree bark before. Thanks for taking that pic and posting it.

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  2. wow that red bark tree is amazing...never seen anything like it...and the rocks make their own kinda art in the sand...cool....

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  3. I love the madrone trees - always look like they're shedding.

    This looks like a nice destination hike.

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  4. Life is awesome when you can hike nine miles in beautiful terrain.
    We also have deception pass here in the Rockies. There's also a Deception Bay in Quebec.

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  5. I was stunned by the madrone tree! I have never seen such a sight! Wow! That is definitely as cool as the hoar frost. ;)

    Shameless? I'd love to see your picture on every hike!

    I love that you are learning about your camera and telling us about it and showing the pictures. And I hope the iPad arrives tomorrow--whoohoo!! :):)

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  6. A great place for a lowland hike! I really like your landscape photo - all those shades of gray.
    Occasionally I ask Tom to take a photo of me to put on my blog. Whenever I do, people like you comment that you are glad to see me. I feel the same way about my blogging friends. It's nice to see you now and then.

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  7. Sounds like you had a wonderful time and got to play with your new camera as well. I too am anxious for your iPad to arrive. I've played with my most of the day.

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  8. You look great, as well you should after the hike.

    I really enjoyed seeing the red bark tree. That was amazing.

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  9. Another great hike; I always refer to the madrone trees as Arbutus...and I always refer to Grey Jays as Whiskey Jacks!
    I think my terms are not the correct ones, though. Have fun with your Ipad tomorrow!

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  10. At first I thought you were saying 14 degrees rather than 14 trailblazers, and I was thinking this is crazy. Some people like weather that cold though. The photos are beautiful DJan regardless of any smudge. I don't see it anyway.

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  11. The trail blazers rock. And I loved the madrone tree - so exotic, and something I would have expected to see in warmer climates.

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  12. A straighten feature? Now that's a feature I could really REALLY use. I love that red bark of the Madrone tree. Shameless? I'm always posting photos of me and I love seeing photos of you, DJan. Post more of them!

    I remember seeing Deception Pass from the bridge. I didn't realize how much more beautiful it was at the bottom.

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  13. I miss seeing the madrone trees with their beautiful colors and shedding bark. It looks like you had a great day for a hike DJan. I love your beautiful sky photos.

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  14. I think 14 trailblazers had a very good day. I also think you take great pictures, although I am not an expert I find myself enjoying them very much. You look good my friend......:-)Hugs

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  15. You are really putting that new camera to good use and the captures are excellent.

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  16. The Olympic Mountains landscape photo is my favorite. I like photos like that and would enlarge it for a wall. You look at home in that environment. It must be a great way to spend a day.

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  17. That tree trunk pic is really gorgeous. You're getting quite handy with your camera!

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  18. That last picture is so awesome.

    And the madrone trees! How cool are those! :0)

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  19. Nothing shameless about you putting a photo of yourself in your blog. WE want to see pics of you!!

    The colors on that tree are great.

    You amaze me.

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  20. Dear DJan,
    I loved that still picture of the Olympic Mountains and the lake. Also, the tree. I'd never before heard of it.

    It's wonderful to see how you have left go of the pain at Christmas and moved on to new horizons. One of these days I hope to buy a camera and to learn how to use it. Then of course I'll have to learn how to transfer photos from the camera to the computer.

    I have an older digital camera that friends gave me when they bought a new one, but I still haven't figured out how to transfer the photographs to the computer. I truly am technologically challenged!

    Peace.

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  21. I absolutely love the bark on the Madrone tree. I am continually wiping my lens with my tshirt..smudges and rain drops will cause lots of messed up photos. You will get used to that camera..I am excited that your iPad is coming ..hope you have it tonight!! :)

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  22. That tree was something else. I do envy your ability to hike year around. Finally surrounded by snow, ice and very cold I'd given up cross country when my knees went bad. Now it's wait for spring. :)

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  23. "Shameless Me", small feet and an amazing eye for photography. Nice Hike - beautiful photos. I have never seen red bark and find it quite amazing - actually never heard of it till I read your post. Now I have to go search this on Google. Thanks DJan and have a great day. I did the same as you and discovered "smudge" on lens after taking several photos. Now, before I take photos, I carry small polishing soft cloth in glad bag and polish before snapping'.

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  24. Fantastic images...I especially like the one with the small peninsula and the pine[?] trees with the mountain range as a backdrop for the lake.

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  25. I like the pictures of you and your friends, as much as I do of the scenery. You can sure see the difference in the way the day was going in those shots from the beginning and near the end. Aren't those Madrona trees something? I find them fascinating and beautiful. I think they are the ones that are always cold to touch, am I right?

    Thank you so much for your comforting words on my recent blog post. It was a harrowing experience, and I've found it interesting that I have slowed down to nearly a crawl the past two days. I think I was purely exhausted. I've accomplished little but napping and chatting with my daughter the past 48 hours and I'm hoping to be back to "normal" before this weekend is over!

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  26. I loved the madrones and manzanitas of northern California...my favorite trees.

    For a minute I could tell that you're a shadow of your former self...lol

    Seriously--great pics!! (as always)

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  27. I always list to the right ;)

    I love the red tree bark and your hiking feet

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  28. Wow the madrone tree is beautiful. I've never seen anything like it. And of course the ladies in the image below are always lovely.

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