Where to Photograph Autumn Colors in Our Gorgeous State
Can you feel it? Autumn is here and, in my opinion, the best season in Washington, certainly for photography! Grab your camera or your cell phone and let’s go on some road trips to capture the amazing fall colors that our state has to offer while you make some print worthy photos to hang on your wall or share on your social media!
But first, WHEN do you go? Here are two invaluable and free interactive maps that show the progression of Autumn colors including near peak, peak, past peak and more. https://smokymountains.com/fall-foliage-map or https://www.explorefall.com/fall-foliage-map
What about the weather? Fall colors are stunning in whatever weather is thrown at you! Blue skies bring great contrasts in colors, but rain and fog bring a moody feeling for your photos!
WHERE do you go? I am covering three great road trips with prime leaf peeping!
Road Trip #1
The Mount Baker Highway (SR 542) runs from Bellingham into the Cascade foothills and ends at Artist Point above the Mount Baker Ski Area.
At about 41 miles from Bellingham, turn right onto Wells Creek Rd to reach Nooksack Falls. A short walk from the parking lot brings you to the falls and the Autumn colors surrounding the area and the valley downstream of the falls is quite spectacular.
Before you reach the ski area, stop at Picture Lake. You can walk all the way around the lake and, if the water is calm, Mount Shuksan reflects perfectly in the lake! Capture Shuksan, the lake, the surrounding trees and all the Autumn color. Look for pathways, bridges, walkways or docks to add into your photos. If you are lucky, you might have some amazing fog hovering over the lake!
Keep heading up the mountain to Heather Meadows Visitor Center. Take a walk and take in the unlimited views!! Make large, grand photos but remember to get close and capture smaller scenes, even just one fallen leaf! Get creative! Never walk on any vegetation and always stay on walkways and trails.
At the very end of the highway is Artist Point. From the parking lot head towards Mt. Shuksan. The walkways offer many different viewpoints of Mt. Shuksan, Mt. Baker (Kulshan), colored shrubs, trees, and tarns where, if you get low, you can hopefully capture another reflection of Shuksan! If you want to get some hiking in, you get some amazing views of Mt. Baker from the Chain Lakes or the Ptarmigan Ridge trails.
Road Trip #2
The North Cascades Highway (SR 20) focuses on the section from Concrete to the Methow Valley.
As you head east, Big Leaf Maples line the road, and they are all in their Autumn splendor! There are several places you can pull over safely to take some photos of something that strikes your fancy! As you are following the Skagit River, keep on the lookout for fishermen to add to your composition or look for Sauk Mountain on the north side!
Close to the town of Concrete on your right, you’ll find Hurn Field, a wildlife viewing area that may add some elk or other wildlife to your composition!
Past Rockport is the Sutter Creek Rest Area right on the river. There are some amazing huge trees and a great fence to photograph, but across the highway is the very picturesque St. Martin-St. Francis Episcopal Church surrounded by Autumn foliage! This is definitely worth a stop!
One note: Marblemount is your last opportunity to fuel up your car until Mazama, 75 miles away!
One of the hidden gems is Newhalem’s Gorge Powerhouse. At the east end of this “company town”, near the powerhouse, cross over the suspension bridge to the trails that run throughout the grounds along Ladder Creek Falls. You will want to spend some time to photograph the falls, the countless trees, fallen leaves of every color and shape, stone structures, pathways and more!
As you continue east, you must stop at the Diablo Lake Overlook. The gorgeous turquoise water is caused by glacial runoff, and it is a fantastic subject surrounded by mountains and fabulous color! Be sure to walk the whole fence line for all the different views!
The Washington Pass Overlook is the highest point of this segment and has amazing views of Liberty Bell Mountain, Early Winter Spires, the valley and more! The mostly paved trails lead to several overlooks, and you can also climb a bit higher for even more views! This location is amazing at any time, but in the fall, it is extra breathtaking! (Note: The pass does close during the winter!)
On your descent into the Methow Valley, the granite mountains make way for farmland, barns, cottonwood and aspen trees to photograph!
Road Trip #3
Highway US 2 from Everett to Leavenworth via Stevens Pass.
There are many popular hikes on the way to Stevens Pass including Wallace and Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene. These are beautiful locations any time of year, but with fall color, they are spectacular!
Deception Falls Picnic Area, at milepost 57, has a lovely and easy nature loop trail along Deception Creek with views of the Upper and Lower Falls plus a couple more waterfalls along the Tye River. If you brought your tripod, try your hand at some long exposures to make the falls silky!
Lake Wenatchee State Park is an absolutely fantastic location! Docks, sandy beaches, driftwood, mountains and lots of color all around the lake make for some of the most amazing views in the south entrance of the park. Be sure to go by the boat launch for stunning views where the Wenatchee River flows from the lake. Emerald Island makes an amazing addition to your photos too and on a calm day you can get extra fantastic reflections! For a short hike, check out Hidden Lake!
As you head further east through Tumwater Canyon, you are surrounded with maple, dogwood, cottonwood and aspen tree groves! A couple of stops are the Swiftwater Picnic Area and the Tumwater Dam but be sure to check out other pullouts, looking specifically for still pools in the river to capture wonderful reflections!
The Old Pipeline Bed Trailhead is where you find the old, rusty Tumwater Canyon Bridge that is a fabulous addition to a river composition with the gorgeous fall colors surrounding it. Walk onto the bridge for more views of the Wenatchee River, its grand boulders and the surrounding mountains. The easy and lovely hike that starts on the other side of the bridge goes along the river and is full of fall foliage!
As you emerge from the canyon at Leavenworth, take a right onto Icicle Road which takes you into another canyon that follows Icicle Creek back into the Cascade Mountains for several more miles of photo worthy views! The Icicle Creek Trail is an easy hike to explore!
In Leavenworth, the main street has lovely trees to photograph along with the gazebo in Front Street Park and the adorable store fronts.
For a lovely stroll, head down to Waterfront Park to explore the forest and riverfront trails. Cross the bridge onto Blackbird Island and continue over to Enchantment Park to seek out ponds, ducks, trails covered in fallen leaves and keep an eye out for fly fishermen to create some magical photos!
A few more of my favorite places to photograph fall colors are Mount Rainier National Park, Chuckanut Drive, the Yakima River Canyon, Walla Walla, Spokane to Green Bluff, the Olympic National Park, the Washington Park Arboretum and ANY Japanese garden! Get out there and capture some amazing photos and memories!
Remember Autumn is a fantastic time to get out and Explore Washington State.
Lisa’s motto is to “Live life with Strength, Love, and Adventure!” It is even tattooed on her arm as a daily reminder! Born and raised in Washington, and now living on Puget Sound on her boat, MV Our Dance, she seeks out any adventure outdoors: kayaking down a waterway, hiking and backpacking along endless trails, listening to the waves crash while sleeping on the beach, biking a gorgeous trail, or just casting off lines and see where the Salish Sea takes her, but she is doing it all, camera in one hand and her husband’s hand in the other!
As a local and world travel, landscape and portrait photographer, Lisa has a burning passion for photography and living a purposeful life. She loves sharing what she sees, feels, and experiences to bring the World to people who cannot see it themselves and then to inspire others to seek out their own beautiful places and adventures. After her son’s suicide, she is determined and driven to share and remind everyone that there IS still beauty and good in this world!
I so love that your photos take me along on your adventures!
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled you enjoyed the adventures!!!
Agree! Beautiful images, Lisa, & gorgeously composed!! Am so sorry for your immense loss too – lost my own brother almost 30 yrs ago (I was still in my 20’s) – so know the pain & heartache and ongoing challenges that presents, to those left behind. :-{
So hats off to you, for transforming & evolving some of that grief by way of presenting further evidence of this world’s immense beauties too into the lives of those, still here
And I like to imagine too, that those we love *are* perhaps still seeing what we are experiencing too…even when *not* of ‘this earthly plain’ any longer (for us to be able to ‘know’ that they are). And who knows?
Maybe they get to witness it even *more* so than they could while here, if depression got in-btwn & perhaps too often, marred their ability to fully savor such simple (yet potentially transformative) moments of ‘bliss’’ & wonder…to help them endure the pain of their depression.
Here’s to all the sweet (& often especially sensitive) loved ones, who have left us far too soon.
Your son would no doubt be very proud of you for sharing & passing on such ephemeral beautiful scenes & moments, by way of your photography…
Thank you so very much for writing to me. I appreciate your kind words about my photography! I am truly sorry about your brother and that you are part of this club we never wanted to join, but I am grateful for people like you who have (sadly) walked this walk before me and can offer encouragement and support. I do believe our loved ones are still with us and I love the idea of my Jake now experiencing the beauty I am trying to share. Love, peace and hugs to you. Thank you again for responding.