The Quiet Picture

It’s been a week and I only have one waterfall picture. That must be a record… I was going to fix that issue today, the idea was to locate and shoot Kvarnbäcksfallet which is south from the lake Storsjön. Finding it was easy in the end, it’s signposted from the road and the hike is given as 1 km. I could hear the water falling nearby already, so this sounded like a very promising trip. Empty promises, as it turned out – I have never seen so many waterfalls with so little to shoot. The main fall is at 1 km just like the sign said, but the hike up there is steep uphill so the the water is constantly falling. And upstream from the main falls, it’s the same thing for about 1 km until it starts to level out. So we’re talking about 2 km of waterfalls and I only found one spot and even that wasn’t very good! Unbelievable. The brook is surrounded by spruce forest so for every fall that looked half promising, there was at least one thing preventing me from shooting it. Either it was impossible to get close enough to the water, or the branches were blocking the shot, or there was too much fallen tree material in the water to spoil the view. Really, the only thing I achieved on that trip was to get my jacket dirty when pushing through the forest.

But don’t let me discourage you. If you’re a waterfall aficionado, by all means check out the Kvarnbäcksfallet falls. And please take a lot of pictures and show them to me so I will know what I missed. Because I sure missed, a lot.

On the way back, I took the small road that follows the river Ljungan on the south side. I found one nice spot and I felt considerably better after that, although I guess it’s not fair that I should be disappointed if some place didn’t turn out to be as good as I had hoped for. It’s just impossible that every place is good, this is why we do scouting in the first place. I’ve been thinking about these falls for a couple of years already and now I’ve been there and can put it to rest!

One mountain that I’ve meant to explore for a few years now is Ormruet. It’s a sub-1K peak but it’s located in a nice place, for one thing it’s close to the road so it’s only a 2km hike to the top (even shorter, if you’re prepared to climb a vertical cliff wall) and secondly, I’ve speculated that it will provide a nice view towards Ånnfjället, since it’s practically just across the road. Ormruet has a very similar profile to Funäsdalsfjället, which means that it’s ugly to look at but interesting to be at. Instead of one distinctive peak, the top is flat with several ridges with a tarn nested in between two of the ridges. I had a thoroughly enjoyable morning walking around the tarn and checking out the ridges and now I’m determined to come back next summer with a tent and camp out for a night. In the evening you can shoot Ånnfjället and then catch the sunrise and shoot the mountains in the west bathed in the morning light (unlikely that I will catch the sunrise in the summer any other way than camping out…). With such a short hike and relatively easy ascend to the top, it doesn’t matter if you’re lugging heavy gear so it’s a perfect location.

This is probably the sunniest day of the vacation. It can’t get any sunnier in any case! Perfect day for a hike, so I drove to Bruksvallarna and left my car at Rockvallen. I hiked up to the Skenörsfjället peak and it was a real treat. It’s right smack in the middle of the massif between Fjällnäs/Tänndalen in the south, and Bruksvallarna/Ramundberget in the north. It is also higher than the surrounding fells (except for Skarvarna) so the view is spectacular. Yes I know, I say that about every peak… but Skenören really stands out. You can see all the plus-1500m peaks of the region; Stor-Vigeln, Skarddöra, Skarsfjället, Sylarna and Helags. And even Härjångsfjället in the distance. It’s a real primer for Funäsfjällen and fairly easy to get to, if you’re prepared to do the legwork. And today I was treated to special offer with some snow on the high peaks, Skarddöra and Sylarna were particularly nicely decorated.

On the way up there, I found quite a few reindeer antlers. I picked up the best one and strapped it on the backpack to shamelessly use it at first best opportunity. It wasn’t easy… I was in between the sun and the snowcapped peaks, which means that my shadow was falling in the foreground. I had to find an elevated spot for the antler and then lie down on the ground in the lemming droppings to avoid getting my shadow in the shot. Is it cheating to move the antler like that? I don’t know… but at least I didn’t steal it from somebody else’s picture and paste into mine! I leave that to the pros*, LOL!

When I sat down for a cupe of coffee, I saw a lot of lemmings go about their business in the slope below me. One of them appeared just a couple of meters from me, it settled down to eat some grass and totally ignored me. I was thinking that this must be a veritable smorgasbord for hawks and other predators… and would you believe, as I was sitting there, one of those birds starting circling above the spot! I couldn’t resist turning my head to see where it was flying, and maybe it saw the movement because it flew off. It would’ve been too cool if it had swooped down to catch a lemming…

I also saw a sea eagle above the mountain. I think it’s a sea eagle anyway, I don’t have a history of getting my birds of prey right… it was a big bird in any case, like the one I saw in the summer, harassed by three smaller birds of prey (that I won’t even try to ID).

In the evening I made an effort to shoot the sunset. Unfortunately, it’s pointless – you can paint the birches any colour you want and they will still be naked. The only way sunset will be interesting if there’s any cloud and then shoot into it. Considering that this was the last sunny day according to the forecast, I might still have a chance.

*go to your favourite search engine and search for “terje hellesö” and “fusk”

I decided to go to exploration mode today, so I left the cabin with the compact camera in one pocket and a chocolate bar in another. Equipped with a map and a compass, my mission for the day was to find a way to the Kovvograven ravine south from Messlingen. There was a slight problem though – I didn’t know exactly where it was. It’s not big enough to be shown on the maps the same way as e.g. Evagraven does (the !!höjdkurva!! make distinctive curves) so all I had was a vague idea and a plan.

It’s easy enough to get to the region where the ravine is, just walk south from the bridge over Mittån until your reach the plateau with the Middagstjärnen tarn. So I set my compass and followed where the arrow pointed, and gave myself a pat on the back when I came up to the plateau exactly where I wanted to – to the right of the tarn. Now I just had to continue going south, over the plateau and then go a little bit down on the other side and this is where it would get tricky, I didn’t know how much to the east or west I would need to be and I didn’t know at which altitude either. So the plan was to walk down a bit and then change to an east-west direction and walk back and forth until I came across the ravine. I almost laughed when I saw that the ground dropped steeply in front of me when I’d gone a mere 10 metres or so from turning east. Considering how steep the drop was, it was obvious that I had found some kind of a ravine, but there were no cliff walls like in the other ravines I’ve visited. The bottom of the depression was covered with spruce forest and I was wondering if the whole place even qualifies as a ravine at all. I followed it down until it levelled off, and then followed it back up in case it would get a little bit more exciting on top. I had almost given up on the whole place when I saw some cliffs between the spruces to my right and sure enough, I had found it!

Earlier in the summer I wrote about the Öjegraven ravine and what a disappointment it was. Kovvograven was even smaller, but I wasn’t disappointed at all, because it had a completely different character. It wasn’t just Evagraven in miniature scale like Öjegraven was, but it was a much gentler profile with a broad mire bottom and only one spot with cliffs on both sides in the southern end of the ravine. I followed the ravine up and now there were low cliffs only on the western side while in the east the ravine was bordered by a ridge covered with a birch forest.

Getting back from the ravine was obviously even easier than going there. All I needed was a generous southern direction, knowing that if I veered too much to the left, I would end up by the lake, and too much to the right would take me to the river. In other words, it was virtually impossible to get lost but when I found an old path, I decided to follow it anyway, curious to see where it would take me. The answer is that it took me down to a small beach by the lake and I realised that the people who use the trail normally take a boat across the lake. I didn’t have a boat but there’s also a trail that circles the lake (not sure if it circles it completely, so I guess I will have to explore it some other day) so I took it back to the bridge. But if you’re planning to visit Kovvograven, forget about the paths and just go south from the bridge to the ravine and then follow the same way back north. No GPS needed!

I’m back at the cabin to spend the week and a half of vacation that I have. To be honest, I’m still not sure what to do with all that time because of the conditions (those being, no autumn colours). But in the very least, I have a comfortable couch to sit on… no TV or Internet, but some DVDs. I’ll manage.

When it was time to decide what to do with the day’s hike, I ruled out everything with water. It’s very windy and overcast so the peaks were out of the question as well. The obvious thing that remained was ravines – time to check out the Evagraven ravine that I have spoken of rather dismissingly this summer.

Although it was supposed to be overcast, the sun made some welcome appearances on occasion. As I was looking down on the ravine, I saw a yellow rowan that was lit up in the distance and it attracted me like a moth to a flame, because it was really the only tree with any colour on it. While I was walking down to it, I got a good look at the ravine and I had to admit that maybe I’ve been overly harsh on Evagraven. The sheer size of it makes it interesting and the photo opportunities are not as hard to find as I had experienced on previous visits. On the other hand, it’s been many years since my last visit and I’ve learned a few things since then… things like using a wideangle lens, for example! I’m still having a blast with the Tokina and it’s pretty much permanently set on 16mm and I’m already wishing I would’ve gotten something wider.

On the way back, I stopped at the little brook and finally checked if I could use any filters with the Tokina. I had high hopes about the Cokin B/Y polarising filter and sure enough, it works! Since it’s made for the filter holder, it has a square shape and because the filter element itself is round, it leaves me generous corners for holding the filter. I can then place it against the petals (the built-in glare guard) of the lens without needing to worry about scratching either the lens or the filter. The crop factor of the camera allows me to use the filter like this even at 16mm without any dark corners. I also have a normal Cokin polariser but for some reason it has a round shape which makes it harder to hold properly and it’s also too small to be safely placed against the petals because there is no margin of error between the edge of the filter and the petals. Slip it one mm in any direction and there’s a risk it will touch the front element of the lens. So I have to settle with the B/Y filter but it’s better than nothing, especially this autumn because the golden end of the filter can add a touch of colour to an otherwise colourless scenery!

I was on a brief visit to the cabin this weekend. My parents came over so I got to show off the cabin and the landscape that I love, and I think they were impressed so I hope they understand why I’m not in no hurry to move back to Finland any time soon. Or ever.

We got lucky with the weather on Saturday, but even the sunshine couldn’t change the fact that the landscape looks less than spectacular at the moment. The birches are really suffering from the fungal infection and in some places the leaves were completely gone already. I didn’t see any birch at all that looked normal, because even the birches that still had leaves were clearly infected.

Sunday’s weather was a perfect match for the bare trees. The clouds were hanging low and you couldn’t even see through the length of the Fiskhålsgraven ravine.

Mom & Dad are now on their way back to Finland (through the storm) and I have the rest of my two week vacation to myself. To be honest, I still don’t have any ideas of what to do. But let’s face it – if I have nothing to do, then I’ll rather have nothing to do at the cabin than at home!

My cabin is shaping up nicely. There are only two major jobs remaining and I have a reliable guy to do them and then it’s pretty much done, actually. There are a few minor things that I have to take care of myself, but then again, a cabin owner’s job is never done. Most of the furniture is also in place, I only have one cupboard that’s waiting to be compiled and then I have to get a bunk bed in the guest room. The cupboard can wait, and the bunk bed arrives next week, just in time for my parents’ visit!

I have a two weeks vacation in September. Unfortunately this is a wrong year for a long autumn vacation because the birches are suffering from some kind of fungal infection which turns all the leaves brown and then kills them before the leaves would naturally turn colour. In some places the alpine birch forest was already stripped of the leaves and it looked more like October than August. In some other places the leaves were still hanging on, but they were infected so I expect the leaves to be gone by the time I have vacation. I’m not going to cancel my vacation though, because September is a wonderful time in the mountains. There won’t be any colour explosion but I can still enjoy hiking in the fresh mountain air. And if the weather is not so good, I can just sit on my couch in the cabin and read a book and take it easy… isn’t that what vacations are for anyway?

When you drive to Lillhärdal from Loos, you have to go north to Sveg first. I’ve often looked at the map and wondered if it would be possible to choose a more straight route, but that straight route means taking some awfully small roads. The proof is in the pudding… We tested it yesterday. After every crossroads the road got smaller until finally we were driving on a dirt road that would’ve been great fun in a 4×4. But as it was, I had to do scouting on foot to see if it was at all possible to proceed by car and with some skilled driving (not me) we got past the worst part. This route saves almost 20 km, but costs twice the time and I won’t be driving these roads again until I have a 4×4!

On the way back we chose a southern route which doesn’t save any mileage but the roads were better. We got to see a lot of new scenery and there was this one lake in particular which made an impression on me. A lot of small islands and an interesting shoreline with a lot of exciting features, it will be a photographer’s paradise on a calm summer evening! Actually, I think almost any ice-free season is fine, as long as it’s calm.

Another interesting thing yesterday was all the small tarns covered with ice, and some of the with a dusting of snow to boot. I kept telling myself that the light was wrong or this or that was wrong so I didn’t stop to photograph them. And then when the light was finally right, all the tarns were gone! If you had asked me to find a road without a lot of lakes lining it, I wouldn’t have been able to name one – until yesterday!

So this morning I was determined to get some icy pictures. Problem is that it wasn’t a very cold night, so the ice is melting. Some small consolation that the weather will inevitably turn colder soon… it’s just that this period of time when you can still see through the ice is quite short. When it gets cold enough for the ice, it gets cold enough for the snow to cover it, too.

And then I found another tarn today which turned out to be good. Just like the tarn I wrote about last week, this one also has a lot of small turf islands. It is situated in a “bowl” which protects it from wind but probably also makes it difficult to photograph in sunlight because it will be shaded. I’ll be back there, another time another light.

And then finally, a weekend wouldn’t be complete without a bird! I had a feeling that the birds would tolerate me without any disguises at all. Quite right – the only bird I wasn’t fooling was a jay, but they weren’t fooled when I was wearing camo, either. As long as I’m quiet and don’t make any sudden moves, the small birds don’t mind me at all!

Windy today, so no fog. But overcast in the morning, so I photographed the birds, what else? Yesterday when I got some nice pictures of the more elusive birds, I started thinking that maybe I’ve exhausted the opportunities at my bird feeder. But never underestimate the birds. Instead of shooting the birds on the perch, I tried to catch them clinging to the pine bark. And then I noticed that the background in one particular spot was to die for so I carefully positioned the camera (the angle to get the background was very small) and then just waited for some birds. Any birds at all, I just wanted to use that background! When the nuthatch showed up, I couldn’t believe my luck. Granted, I had to do some serious photoshopping to get rid of an OOF blob in the foreground but this was one of those cases where I was more interested in the end result than how I achieved it. I know I recently posted a fairly similar nuthatch picture but this pose is better, it’s more of a typical nuthatch pose than in the previous effort.

Then at around noon the clouds cleared and it was bright and sunny. I just know that sunny conditions don’t work with the birds, so why I was standing there with the camera anyway I’ll never know… but I kept a watchful eye on the background so I would only use angles where it wasn’t a complete mess. But if you ever needed proof that overcast works better, just look at that nuthatch. Me happy!

When I came home yesterday, I realised that the morning fog had never dissipated during the day. It was sunny in Ljusdal but a few km before Loos the landscape was shrouded in fog, which made think that it could well be the same thing today. The fog is very sensitive to altitude and then of course the lakes and marshland have their own microclimate as well. So this morning when I saw it was foggy, I was torn between shooting the birds or shooting the foggy landscape. I decided to stay with the birds (as seen in the previous post), and if the fog would dissipate I would then have a sunny landscape to shoot in the afternoon, it sounded like a win-win situation.

It was still foggy in the afternoon but I was almost sure that there were different conditions if I would just drive out of Loos. Sure enough, already in Ryggskog it was sunny and then as I was driving towards Voxnan, the conditions were alternating between sun and fog.

After studying the satellite pictures, I had found a couple of waterfalls at Svartån that I hadn’t seen before so I wanted to see what they looked like in real life. The bonus with this plan was that I would park my car next to a small tarn which is very nice, if a bit difficult to photograph because the eastern side of the tarn is fouled by a de-forestrated area and in the summer I found that the rest of the tarn becomes difficult to shoot because it’s mostly backlit in the afternoon/evening. No backlight problems when it’s foggy!

And so it was that what was supposed to be a quick look turned into a three-hour photo session. At first it was foggy, then I made a side-trip to the big marsh north from the tarn and when I came back, it was sunny. So I walked around the tarn again!

When I was finally done with the tarn, I was wondering if it was getting too late to venture into the forest and look for these new waterfalls I thought I might find in Svartån. But it was only a few hundred meters there so I might as well check it, if it was really good I could come back some other time. I found the waterfalls but they weren’t as nice as my favourite spot along Svartån. But if you never look for anything, you’ll never find anything. I was so happy about all the other pictures I had taken today that a disappointing waterfall hardly made a dent!