Chasing the Light

Yet another place I’ve been to several times, mostly without a camera.  My last trip to the 1270 foot mountain was in 2008 when a friend at work was kind enough to lend me her Nikon D80 over the Independence Day weekend.  Before the evening’s fireworks, I went for a drive to the top to take some experimental pictures.  I configured the camera for black and white and tried taking pictures in the style of Ansel Adams.  The results were less than satisfactory.  There’s a reason Mr. Adams was the genius he was.

Today, I decided to go back to Mount Erie.  On the way to the mountain, I stopped at the Lake Erie Grocery store to take a couple pictures.  I love the location of this old store and it’s position at the base of the mountain.  It just stands out against the blue sky and the surrounding evergreens.

It’s a short drive from the store to the entrance of Mount Erie park.  The single lane road up the mountain is narrow and winding; there’s barely enough room for two vehicles to pass on another.  Luckily on my way up, I didn’t encounter any cars coming back down.

About three quarters of the way up, there’s a pullout near a set of stairs that lead to a lookout area.  The lookout — on the west side of the mountain — is probably 1000 to 1100 feet above sea level, and you can see for miles.  The vista affords you fantastic views of the San Juan Islands, parts of Anacortes, Burrows Bay and Burrows Island, as well as parts of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  I took several sweeping shots for a stitched panorama, then headed to the peak.

I locked my truck and started towards the east lookout area.  There were several people there, and while it’s a nice view, there’s not much to see except Highway 20 and the oil refineries.  I decided to head over to the south lookout.  Climbing on the big, and I mean BIG rocks atop Erie, was a Mantardass: half man, half jackass, half retard.  He appeared to be a grown-ass man, but he was on top of one big rock demanding his mother’s attention.  “Mom… Hey Mom!  Look Mom, I’m on the highest point of the mountain.” He then bounced over to another rock and declared he was now on the highest point.  Looking around, I could tell he was not standing on the highest point of Mount Erie.  I found his Mantardass behavior highly irritating, I don’t know why.

I went off into the trees to find things that most people wouldn’t photograph in such a touristy location.  When I decided to head over to the railing at the south lookout, ol’ Tour Guide Frisby and his Mantardass parents were there, along with a gaggle of women that were talking about everything but the view at their backs.  I went into a holding pattern and took a seat on a rocky outcrop, taking several pictures high above Lake Campbell.  When I finally made my over to the railing, I again took more sweeping shots for a nice panorama, as well as the nice shot you see on the left.

I then drove back down the road that twists and turns more than my intestines, and went to Heart Lake.  While the lake is usually not crowded, today was a gorgeous day, and there were many people there with the RVs, lawn chairs, and fishing poles.  I decided to come back another day — maybe during the golden hour — and headed home.

Flickr sets of the day:

Mount Erie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wafwot/sets/72157624338084066/
Mount Erie southern view pano: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wafwot/4728217132/
Mount Erie western view pano: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wafwot/4728212032/