It was an interesting year on the Olympic Peninsula. There was a lot of things I photographed, that have never been capture before in the mountains here. I'm lucky to be able to witness them with my own two eyes.
Record low snowpack in the earlier months of 2015, lead to snow-free alpine hiking. I was able to be above 5,000' this last winter; without any skies or snowshoes. That is a first for me.
Then later in the summer months, a record drought in the Olympic Mountains lead to a never before documented wildfire that burn most of the year. This lead to very pour air quality, for most of the people living here.
Moving towards winter again, we received record setting rainfall, with many rivers leading to flood stage quickly; because there was no snowpack to hold the water in the mountains. I heard several stories of hikers getting trapped behind creek crossing, that had turned into flash flood torrents, because of this very reason.
I hope you enjoyed hiking along. Please consider viewing all my 2015 Olympic Mountain hiking photos and giving your favorites a +1 - it really helps me out. See you out there!
Wrote by Barefoot Jake
Record low snowpack in the earlier months of 2015, lead to snow-free alpine hiking. I was able to be above 5,000' this last winter; without any skies or snowshoes. That is a first for me.
Then later in the summer months, a record drought in the Olympic Mountains lead to a never before documented wildfire that burn most of the year. This lead to very pour air quality, for most of the people living here.
Moving towards winter again, we received record setting rainfall, with many rivers leading to flood stage quickly; because there was no snowpack to hold the water in the mountains. I heard several stories of hikers getting trapped behind creek crossing, that had turned into flash flood torrents, because of this very reason.
Winter: Record Low Snowpack
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| Mount Anderson under record drought |
Early Spring Hiking
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| The Queets Rain Forest in Spring |
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| Buckhorn Wilderness in Spring |
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| An alpine lake in spring |
Summer Hiking in Wildfire Smoke
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| Photographing Glacier Melt |
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| Abandoned Trail Hiking |
A Very Dry Autumn
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| Olympic Mountains - dry as a desert |
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| Backpacking in Autumn |
A Wet Winter
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| Record rains lead to flooding |
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| Quinault's Graves Creek Road provides access to Enchanted Valley(pictured) and Hot Springs Road of the Elwha Valley - both suffer major damage this winter; limiting access to the Olympic National Park |
I hope you enjoyed hiking along. Please consider viewing all my 2015 Olympic Mountain hiking photos and giving your favorites a +1 - it really helps me out. See you out there!
Wrote by Barefoot Jake