Boulder River
A friend call last week and asked if we wanted to go hiking on Sunday. Sure! I had read several good reports about Boulder River,. a low elevation hike near Darrington. It starts at about 1,000ft and only gains 600 feet over four miles. The low elevation makes it a good hike for late or early in the season.
We checked the forecast and it looked pretty good. Sunday rolled around and I checked the weather radar in the morning. There were showers all along the highway from Arlington to Darrington but the forecast was still for clearing and no rain. We packed our rain gear just in case, dressed in warm clothing and headed out.
It was easy and beautiful drive through the farm fields and along the Stillagaumish River to the trail head. The drive was lined with big leaf maples and alders that were still wearing their yellow end-of-the-season leaves. We turned off at French Creek Road – FS 2010. The trees were still dripping from the morning showers and the potholes were filled to the rim with water. I dodged the pot holes the best way I could although we did hit several. After a short 3 1/2 miles, we arrived at the trail head.
The beautiful scent of cedar overwhelmed us as we opened the car doors. We had parked in a group of old cedar trees. We laced up the boots and headed down the trail. One side was lined with tall mossy fern-covered rocky cliff. On the other side, Boulder River roared in the distance. The bright sun rays cut the mist and made the forest look heavenly. The path was covered with huge big leaf maple leaves the size of two large hands. Water dripped from moss laden trees.
The sound of the river became louder. At about 1 1/4 miles, we came to a beautiful waterfall. We continued on walking – in and out of the fog and sun. After about 2 miles, we decided to stop at an sunny cliff and have our lunch.
The sun was getting lower. We had just turned our clocks back the previous night and we realized how quickly dark was coming. We returned to the car and headed back. The late afternoon sun turned the area golden and we had to make one more stop along the Stillaguamish River before heading back to civilization.
More details – WTA Boulder River
This looks magical!
Oh, what beautiful light in those photos! I want autumn leaves!
These photos are incredible. What a day hike that was.
Hi Marta, your photos of this beautiful area is just stunning! I love all the photos… the waterfalls, the sunlight through the tall trees… beautiful. You are such a talented photographer.
Thank you so much for sharing your photos.
WOW – what a stunning day for a hike! It is funny how the ‘treks’ we plan the least can often be the most rewarding.
Amazing photos! We don’t have hikes like that around here!
Thanks for visiting my gardening blog post today. Your 100 varieties of salvias has me intrigued.
Cameron
Your photos truly are amazing! I keep trying to get the smooth water affect but never can quite get it when I use the manual controls on my Canon G9. Not sure what I doing wrong.
I looked on the map to find Darrington. Did you drive by Arlington to get there? I used to love seeing all the cows on the farms on my way to work in the morning (I taught in Arlington when I lived in Washington).
Yes – we did drive through Arlington to get there! It was a great drive especially right after Halloween. Lots of farms still decorated for Halloween.
It took me a long while to finally figure out how to get the smooth water. It takes a really slow shutter speed – 1/4 sec or slower. I checked my EXIF and it 1/4 sec for this picture.
I’m amazed that I was able to get an okay shot with my camera handheld. You really need to use a tripod to get the best smooth water shots.
Thanks for the info. I remember trying to slow down the shutter speed but then the photo would be too dark. I am sure I must have done something wrong. I did not have a tripod but did put the camera on something and used the 2 second delay so that I could hold it as still as possible. Will have to try it again.