Water Drops

Taken while hiking with brother Tim near Austin Pass in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, these are the needles, I believe, of a Mountain Hemlock.

This was taken on one of the hikes I did recently with brother Tim. We hiked the Lake Ann trail in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on a very wet and rainy day. I believe this is the dead branch and needles of a Sub-alpine Fir. My apologies for the delay in responding to recent comments. I was on an overnight camping trip with fifteen 6th-8th graders and had no opportunity to be on Ipernity. In fact, there was not as much opportunity for sleep as I would have liked.

This was taken on a hillside along the trail around Anderson Lake. A trip to the state park of that name was part of a recent visit to the Olympic Peninsula, and as is often the case I ended up taking pictures of anything I could find while waiting for my wife to catch up after taking some pictures of her own. The previous picture shows why she sometimes takes so long and why she often gets better pictures than I do.

Photographed along the Lake serene trail, the photo is a little grainy because the light was so poor and I had to use a high ISO to get the shot.

It's been a wet spring here and this was taken on a wet morning at the Au Sable Institute in Coupeville on Whidbey Island. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/05/orchid-hunting-in-leavenworth-area.html

We had stopped to photograph an orchid and while waiting for my wife to finish, I spotted this tiny plant, only a few inches tall, that had apparently dropped its leaves and collected a little drop of dew at each leaf or flower axil. I have no idea as to the identity of the plant - was so charmed by the drops that I can't even remember what the plant looked like. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-berg-la...

This was photographed along the Berg Lake Trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia very early on a wet but beautiful August morning. We had stopped to photograph a native orchid, one of the few native wildflowers that was blooming, and while waiting for my wife, I noticed this tiny plant along the trail, its flowers long gone, but a tiny drop of dew at the end of each old flower stem. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-berg-la...

Taken early in the morning on a spring hike in the Baker River area of the North Cascades. The plant, I believe, is False Solomon's Seal, though possibly Star Solomon's Seal, but it was not in flower at the time. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/04/baker-river...

In Explore April 29, 2012, #77. My brother will be working in the Portland area this week and came up here Friday and spent the weekend with us. Saturday the weather was decent and he and I did a little hiking. Not many of the mountain trails are open yet and so we hiked the Baker River Trail, a trail that follows the Baker River and does not get above 1000 feet elevation. The trail begins in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and enters the southwest corner of North Cascades National Park, ending at Sulphide Creek and the hikers' camp there. The main attractions of the trail are old growth forest, the Baker River and stunning views of the mountains and glaciers when the day is clear, which it was not on Saturday. We did find the wildflowers starting to bloom, especially the Bleeding Hearts, the Wood Violets and the Trilliums and I'll be posting pictures of some of them. This was taken fairly early in the morning near the beginning of our hike and is a picture of a drop of water hanging on a plant of False Solomon's Seal that was just beginning to unfold its new growth. It was taken with a macro lens and a star filter and is untouched. I'll be posting more pictures, but for now if you wish to see pictures of the hike you'll have to visit my brother's photostream at: www.flickr.com/photos/timhanko/ , or my blog at: ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/04/baker-river...