Today is Columbus Day and I was originally planning on catching up on some photo and design work. I didn't want to get caught up in the holiday traffic and I especially didn't want to drive somewhere to do some shooting only to find all the parks and lakes inundated with people. Fortunately, the weather collapsed around 2 p.m. bringing heavy rain and fog. I took this as my cue.Quickly packing the cameras in dry bags and rain covers, I made my way to Grafton Lakes State Park. The park is at about 1,000 feet and is approaching peak foliage. Usually 10 degrees colder than the city, Grafton has strange, foreboding, weather patterns that either make for interesting images or monochromatic rubbish. Most people don't usually head out during a torrential thunderstorm, so, I figured I would have the park to myself. There was a time in my mid-20's when I would only hike if there was a storm of some sort forecast. At the time, I was addicted to the speed and momentum of cycling [both road and mountain], and hiking seemed mellow. By then I had read too many epic mountaineering books to be satisfied by a simple walk in the woods. I still love to get out into the weather when I can, except now, I gravitate toward the happy medium of trail running.
Today, the intersecting fronts and resulting temperature gradient produced varying layers of fog that combined the peak foliage and green leaves to make for some interesting shooting. The real treat was having the park to myself [this is a difficulty no matter what day of the week]. The forest was absolutely silent.Today was one of those rare occasions where the photos match the mood.
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