Foggy Times in the Sultan Basin

I’m woefully behind on processing images, so let’s catch up!

Today, I wanted to share a hike my wife and I did up to the Sultan Basin area. If you aren’t from Washington, I doubt you’ve heard of it, and even if you are from my neck of the woods, you might not have heard of it either. It’s a little bit of a hidden gem just outside the town of Sultan, tucked away in a valley that’s not really visible from anywhere. In the bottom of the valley is a lake that is the source of most of the drinking water for Snohomish County. Thanks to its relative obscurity, longish access, and the propensity to be quite rainy, the area is usually pretty quiet, which is just the way I like it!

When we visited, we wanted to do something really quiet, so we picked a road walk up to the summit of Blue Mountain. This is an unassuming road through a number of logged off areas that gets you a little more than a thousand feet of elevation gain, and as many miles as you are willing to do. There isn’t much in the way of a view until you are right at the top in the largest of the clear cuts, but there is some nice forest along the way.

On a clear day, it’s a good workout and an alright view, but the day we went was cloudy and a little bit drizzly, which made for AMAZING atmosphere. I’ve always found this area a little bit spooky, and I’m not sure why, but the fog really added to that atmosphere, so I went with that when I processed these images. I hope you enjoy!