Fall has fully arrived in the Cascades and Happy Creek Nature Trail is a spectacular place to become immersed in fall colors.
The primary source of color comes from an abundance of Vine Maple(Acer circinatum) trees found near the creek.
Vine Maples surrounded the boardwalk trail..
and in some places, completely cover it.
On a recent walk along the trails of Washington Park the lovely smell of campfires permeated the forest. When I came to the opening in the forest the smoke from one of those fires created some gorgeous sun rays.
It doesn’t happen often, but on this day the weather was incredibly clear with the mountains of Olympic National Park were visible from Washington Park(near my home). My wife and I went to the park to enjoy the sunset and Mother Nature put on a spectacular show.
The Olympics are off in the distance with Lopez Island on the right, Burrows Island on the left, and a bit of Washington park in the foreground.
Technical Note: The bottom photo is a panorama made up of five images stitched together.
Tad Gielow Photography 