The Gift of Fall – Part 3

Back on the Ice Age trail for the penultimate part of my fall trail series.

Ringle Segment

This was my second visit and maybe not my last. This one is special for a few reasons. It’s nicely laid out with lots of elevation changes and curves (no ATV or forest roads here) and has many of one of my favorite things to find on a trail. This post has a few odd compositions and arrangements that I hope break up the sameness and repetition that sometimes creeps into my photography. And of course I hope they expand the Story of the Place. It wasn’t the absolute peak of fall color, but there was enough to carry the mood.

And now for my favorite forest walk feature. Boardwalks! This trail is kind of famous for its walkways. I lost count of how many. There was at least 1/2 a dozen of them. I didn’t take photos of all of them (neither did I walk the entire segment), but I did stop on each one and marvel at what was around it. Mostly where creeks or boggy bits come into the forest. They protect the trail, the physical terrain by not making it necessary to find alternate routes when it’s wet, and your feet. Plus they’re so photogenic, especially when the builders put curves into them!

When I attended a Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin field trip to this trail in the early summer, I learned that whenever possible trail builders put curves into walkways because people love them. Seriously – the pure joy of little windy boardwalks is why they build them. I love people who think this way. I guess we wouldn’t have a whole organization dedicated to the Ice Age Trail if it wasn’t for the sheer joy of being out in the wilds of Wisconsin. Every effort is made to enhance the experience.

Oh sure, some are completely straight because they have to be, but if a little jog or bend is possible, they do it! It’s wonderful. I also learned that the posts are designed to be adjusted over time as the whole things shifts with temperature fluctuations and changes to the hydrology. It makes them more durable and easier to sort out when they become warped or damaged. So very cool.

Sometimes, rocks are left in place or shifted slightly to accommodate walkers. I thought these two would make an effective part of this composition. Another nice aspect of fall photography is the leaf carpet that works just as well as canopy in most woodland photos. With the leaves falling off the branches like crazy, there are lots of holes that show blank sky and can be very distracting in a scene. By tilting the camera downward, you can still get lots of color, but avoid those bright spots in your backgrounds.

Occasionally I went off trail to see if I could find order in the chaos. Leading lines are hard to come by without a trail, but this fallen tree (a tip up) made for a decent one. You would have laughed at my tripod antics to get this set up. I think in the end I ended up hand holding it kind of braced on the tree roots. It was pretty funny.

Another thing that the field trip leader talked about was building stairs on trails. I would have liked to walk to this one that was mentioned while on the field trip, but we didn’t so I’m glad I found it on my solo walk. It comes down to a wide forest road (probably a remnant of logging operations). Not only is it fun and quirky, but functional since it helps prevent erosion and degradation of the trail. The builders scout for usable rocks all over the area and often use ATVs and come-alongs to move them to the spot they’re needed. Then it’s grunt work to get them into stable positions for long term durability. I love when I find stairs on trails.

Another boardwalk! There were so many that I had to change things up with how I photographed them. For this one I got off to one side and used a longer lens to compress the scene from front to back. And the sun came out! The light changed a lot as the wind blew and when it lit up the back part of the scene, things really came together. There’s more depth here in than in the photos with very even light.

And one more walkway as the sun continued to break through the clouds. This scene was a little ways ahead of me, so I again pulled it in with a longer lens while just sitting on a rock and enjoying my favorite time in the woods. A little breeze, a little sun, what more can you ask for?

A technique I use to help me vary the kind of images I make on hikes is to use one lens for the way out and one for the way back. Usually it’s my wide/normal lens to start and the medium telephoto to end. Of course I can switch anytime I need to, but the difference in the lenses causes me to evaluate scenes with either a long or a short focal length in mind. Here’s a good example of cutting out a slice of what makes sunlight in the woods so great –

It’s a little odd, but I’ve tried to make images like that one before, but they never worked for me. This one oddly does. It’s ethereal and, well, airy. The leaves in the branch make it for me – they give it form and definition that would get lost otherwise. Another bit of autumn magic.

And oh look! Mushrooms! Of course there were the beautiful Amanita muscaria that I found, but also these guys. I was pretty close to the car, but I had to put the macro lens on and get the tripod off the backpack in order to do some focus bracketing. I got REALLY lucky with the light on this first one. Love how the bg looks all glowy and there is some “stained glass” effect going on in the cap.

So that’s it for this trail. Part 4 is coming up, the last installment before we swing into winter.