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06/22/24 - Dungeness Highlands

If you park at the Dungeness Spit parking lot, odds are you are going to head down to the Dungeness Spit, but you might consider staying up in the highlands and following the bluffs and the trails for some spectacular mountain views. It's summer, so the fields are changing color, and the spring flowers are past. It's another easy walk, and a good place to explore if you can't get far on the spit during high tide.

There are a lot of little birds, but they are usually not as easy to see as this one.

Mountain view

Poppies

The thicket is always so inviting in the summer.

One of the fields

Another field

The trail

A peek at the mountains

A field of a different color

Old trees by the strait

Twisted trees line the bluffs

Keywords: dungeness, flowers, spring, summer, trails

06/07/24 - Railroad Bridge in Sequim

We had errands to run in Sequim (pronounced skwim), so we headed west of town on Hendrickson Road to the Railroad Bridge. It was nice to see the new visitor center and museum, but our real goal was the bridge. It's part of the Olympic Discovery Trail, but, for a short visit, we just walked across the Dungeness River and back.



Keywords: dungeness, sequim

12/14/23 - Bird Watching at Dungeness DIke

We did some bird watching at Dungeness Dike. We saw a few eagles, hawks, a heron and, of course, lots of ducks.

The Dungeness River

The river awash

Gray sky

Two eagles

Two eagles up close

The scene

The marshland

Autumn color

A heron

Ducks

An eagle in flight

A hawk in a tree

An eagle in a tree

Probably a hawk

That hawk again

An eagle in a tree

That eagle again

More ducks

Gray skies bring out the fading color.

Keywords: ducks, dungeness, eagle

12/10/23 - Railroad Bridge Christmas

They've been decorating Railroad Bridge in Sequim for Christmas for years now. For years, we have been wanting to see the lights there, but every year we've missed our chance. Christmas season is a busy time of year, so there was always something else to do.

This year, we finally made it down to the bridge towards dusk and got to see the illumination. The sky was cloudy and getting darker. It was raining. The Dungeness River was full from the recent and ongoing rain. The lights were beautiful.






A Christmas eagle





The Dungeness River

The Dungeness River

Keywords: christmas, dungeness, sequim

11/16/23 - Autumn in the Dungeness Highlands

We call the Clallam County park area above the Dungeness Spit the Dungeness Highlands or sometimes the Dungeness Headlands. Don't expect us to be consistent. There are some nice hiking paths, and a great place to watch the seasons change.

The scene

Last few leaves

A visitor

Abstract

The field

The path

Some thicket

The path

More thicket

More autumn color

More abstract

Keywords: dungeness

11/15/23 - Playing With the New iPhone

These are a few more pictures taken with the new iPhone. It's a pretty good camera. It's not quite good enough to replace our point and shoot with its telephoto lens, but it is getting better.

It does nice things with lens flare.

It has a fairly good telephoto lens.

The software does some nice stuff with contrast.

It also saturates colors.

What you get is very nice.

Keywords: dungeness, software

11/15/23 - Good Day for Hawks at Dungeness Dike

It was a good day for hawk spotting on the Dungeness Dike.

Two on a tree

In the air

Again

Late autumn color

Lens flare

Keywords: autumn, dungeness

11/05/23 - Dungeness Dike

Dungeness Dike is another great place to watch the changing seasons. The new configuration hasn't been accessible for a full year yet, so we're still getting a sense of it. Meanwhile, we've been seeing a good number of fishermen out for cut-throat trout, something new it seems. They must be in season.

The Dungeness River and a winter sky

The marshy fields

More fields and mountains

Another look

And another

Some fall color

Wetlands and gray skies

An eagle in a tree

Last bit of color

More of the new wetlands

Another view south

The marsh seen with an iPhone

Bright iPhone colors

The iPhone is better at capturing fall colors here.

Another iPhone scene

And another with lots of cloud drama

More color and drama

Keywords: dungeness, eagle, autumn

11/03/23 - Ultra Zoom - iPhone vs Sony

We have a new iPhone Pro Max, so we also have a new camera. This model of iPhone has a much more powerful zoom than most smartphone cameras, so we took a couple of pictures with it to compare against those taken by our usual Sony DSC-HX99. They're both pretty good cameras, but at an extreme zoom, 25X, the Sony seems to deliver a better picture. That's not surprising. The Sony has a much better set of lenses and much more space to play with. The iPhone only has a 5X optical zoom, but it has a higher resolution sensor. They both have ridiculous image processing software, but what doesn't nowadays?

The Strait of San Juan de Fuca as a filler shot

iPhone - Port Angeles blowing off steam

Sony - Port Angeles blowing off steam

iPhone - zoomed in

Sony - zoomed in

iPhone - an eagle seen from the Dungeness Dike

Sony - an eagle seen from the Dungeness Dike

iPhone - zoomed in eagle

Sony - zoomed in Eagle

Keywords: dungeness, eagle, port angeles, software

11/02/23 - Dungeness Highlands With A New Camera

One of the nice things about living in a place with seasons is that every time one revisits a trail one can note the seasonal changes. We're well into autumn now, and leaves have thinned and changed color. They cover the trails. Rose hips and berries are more prominent. Even the sky is different.

We went back to the Dungeness Highlands again. It was further into fall, but we also had a new camera, one of the new iPhones. We usually use a Sony DSC-HX99, but we wanted to play with a new toy. The pictures were pretty good, though distinctly different. If nothing else, the colors seemed less saturated. On the other hand, that could just be another sign of the changing seasons.


Looking towards Port Angeles

A milky sky and bare branches

The thicket without leaves

The path through the thicket with a few leaves still hanging on

A view south along the trail

Basic colors

Looking east

The mountains again and a winter sun

Fading grass fields

A mystery bird, in silhouette

Some final color

Rose hips

Coin flowers

Bare branches, signs of change

More along the trail

A peak ahead

Through the thicket with a patch of blue mountain visible

Another peaceful trail shot

Looking back across the water

Keywords: autumn, dungeness, trails

10/28/23 - The Dungeness Dike in Bright Sun

It was really sunny out at the Dungeness Dike today, but it was a good day for bird watching. The autumn colors are coming in, and there were a fair number of fishers out for cut-throat trout. Is this a sign that the restoration is going well? We hope so.

Lens flare over the Dungeness River

Look, no lens flare!

A kingfisher

Another view of the marsh

More of the marsh

A mystery bird

Another view

More lens flare

Less lens flare

A caterpillar of a different color

Some fall color

And more color

Yet more golden leaves

More of the scene

An owl just before flying away

View from the dike

One of those mock birds one spots from a distance

Keywords: dungeness

10/05/23 - Dungeness Highlands

Most people explore the spit when they visit the Dungeness Reserve, but lately we've been exploring the highlands. We head inland along the coast, then cut across the road and follow the main bridle path. We make our way to the overlook with a great view of the Olympic Mountains and a picnic table. This almost completes a loop, but it isn't a very long loop, so we turn around and head back the way we came instead.

On our last visit, the color was autumn with bright yellow and red leaves, golden grasses and blue sky, blue mountains and the blue of the strait as backdrops. There are parts of the hike that remind us of northern California, but it's definitely a North Olympic Peninsula scene.


A last bit of fall color here

The green tunnel is still green.

The thicket

Autumn fields and distant mountains

A pathway through the grasses

Another field

That field with mountains and sky

More fall color and another tunnel

Another field and mountains

Yet another field

Golden leaves

Gold and the hills

View from the picnic table

Slightly hazy mountains

Another thicket

Another field again

A golden field

The path across

Passing through

More autumn and the mountains

Some more color

A passing snake

The strait

Keywords: autumn, dungeness

06/21/23 - Dunguness Ducklings

They are working on the Dungeness Dike again. We aren't sure of what they are doing, but they a "Trail Closed" sign and some heavy equipment doing stuff. We cut our walk short and stopped to watch the ducklings on our way back to the schoolhouse.

Dungeness River flow

The marshlands with secret ducklings

More flooded areas

The trail was closed

Someone racing along leaving a trail of dust

Someone digging a hole?

Duck and ducklings

Quite a few of them

And another duckling photo

Keywords: dungeness

06/20/23 - A Shooting Star

We saw this flower at the entry station for the Dungeness Spit. We usually see this up in the high country, but with the lodge fire closing the road, we haven't been climbing mountains lately.

Keywords: dungeness, dungeness spit, high country

06/12/23 - Bird Watching at Dungeness Dike

Eventually, construction will resume at the Dungeness Dike, but, for now, we're going to take advantage of the peace and quiet. The dike offers wonderful views and great bird watching. The birds don't mind the flooding at all. ...

Mergansers

Gray sky

The flood plain

Birds in a tree

A closer look

A red tailed hawk

The fields

Poppies

Towne Road

Another bird

More marsh

Even more marsh with a bird perched

That blackbird more closely

Keywords: birds, dungeness

Keywords: birds, dungeness

06/09/23 - Dungeness Highlands

When the tides are against us at Dungeness Spit, we'll head inland and stick to the highlands. That's an out and back hike we take along the bluffs, then inland to a viewing point. It's a short walk from there to the parking lot, so we turn around and retrace our steps. There are grasslands, forests, thickets and some wonderful mountain views.

Along the bluffs

Sunny trail

Distant mountains and nearby roses

More sunny trail

More distant mountains

Seen along the way

Heading north

More open country

Another vista

Yet another

Another thicket - They're popular.

Another look at the Olympic Mountains

And another

A tree full of birds

A close up

Back through the thicket

A floral collage

Keywords: dungeness, dungeness spit, tides

Keywords: dungeness, dungeness spit, tides

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