Young Creek Wetlands

[AlanLichty]

The waterfalls at Shepperds Dell are along Young Creek which flows out into meadow wetlands that are part of Rooster Rock State Park. Latourell Creek below Latourell Falls flows into Young Creek in these wetlands creating Mirror Lake before flowing into the Columbia River. This is a shot taken by my drone hovering over the wetlands looking at fall colors in the trees along the edges of the wetlands from last October. Single frame at 166mm.

Hopefully we will get some color like this over the next couple of weeks.

C&C always welcome.

 

[JimFox]

That sure likes nice. I like the light in this, hopefully you get similar color soon. So the beginning of November is fall color time there?

 

[AlanLichty]

That sure likes nice. I like the light in this, hopefully you get similar color soon. So the beginning of November is fall color time there?

Thanks Jim - late October and early November is the usual range for serious fall color. The exact timing for peak color can be anywhere in that range and isn't really consistent from year to year. A lot depends on when we first start getting rain after the dry season in the summer into early September. Good September rains will drag the colors out longer and dry Septembers push an earlier peak with more drab color.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice light and colors in this. How far along are the colors this year?

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice light and colors in this. How far along are the colors this year?

Thanks Jameel - this year's colors aren't that far along at all. I am hoping to take advantage of some dry days next week to get up there to scope things out. The date for the shot above was October 20 last fall so we are due for things to get started. Quite a bit of green still showing in the deciduous trees so far this year.

 

[Trent Watts]

With the global loss of wetlands and riparian areas it warms my heart to see this shot Alan. Thanks for sharing that beautiful site.

 

[AlanLichty]

With the global loss of wetlands and riparian areas it warms my heart to see this shot Alan. Thanks for sharing that beautiful site.

Thanks Trent - we still have a lot of wetlands west of the Cascades but there is a lot of acreage along the Columbia that has been drained and diked for farmland. I am not certain of the true age for this particular scene. Right behind where I shot this from is a small lake named Mirror Lake. It pools behind the grade work that for I-84 before draining into the Columbia so there might have been a straight shot for this creek to drain before Mother Nature's work got interrupted.