[lcometto]

Last Sunday I took advantage of a partly cloudy weather window to finally hike Yellow Aster Butte, a trail I had been meaning to explore forever. Getting to the parking lot around 9am, the skies looked completely cloudless. But as the day progressed, the clouds began to accumulate and overtake the formerly blue sky. Partly cloudy – just what I was looking for.

Yellow Aster Butte

Yellow Aster Butte

By the time I hiked this trail (October 6th), the fall colors that typically dominate this landscape appeared dull and colorless. Despite this, a recent light dusting of snow had fallen on the mountains the day prior, giving the peaks a nice topping of white. The contrast of white, green, and red/orange made for some great photography. Though the trail is relatively short and easy, I hung around all day admiring the 360 degrees of peaks from the aforementioned butte. It’s really incredible how close Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan seem on a clear day from several points on the hike.

Yellow Aster Butte

At around 2pm and loitering just below the butte, I had a decision to make: head for the car or wait until sunset. The clouds at that time were beginning to thicken, obscuring the sun, and creating a bit of color in the sky. For the next few hours, I watched as the setting sun produced softer and softer hues.

Yellow Aster Butte

Yellow Aster Butte

By the time the golden hour arrived, I remained on the trail’s elevated section photographing the distant peaks and searching for interesting foreground. When you’re on the mountain that late and all of the day hikers have left, you experience a blissful solitude even on the most popular trails. After losing the light, I made it back to the car well into the darkness, content with the day’s adventure. www.lucascometto.com

[HermitThrush]

Fantastic pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Schroder]

Some calendar worthy photos there

[neek]

Your patience paid off. Beautiful!

[lcometto]

Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen!

[Roly Poly]

Absolutely stunning. Was it crowded there?

[lcometto]

Roly Poly, it was crowded from the start of the morning and peaked at around 12pm. There were lots of folks hanging out, chatting, and eating lunch on top of Yellow Aster Butte (myself included!). But those numbers started to drop fast as 2pm rolled around and by 3pm, the trail was almost deserted.