Great Island - Wellfleet
This is a trail I didn't try last year, so was all new this year. I quite enjoyed the chunk I went on. I arrived around low tide, which is really the best time to walk in tidal flats, or on a beach. The trail went much farther than I ended up walking, and the furthest parts are underwater at some high tides. Just like at Audubon's Wellfleet Bay there were plenty of fiddler crabs underfoot. The parts of the trail I went on had no shade whatsoever, so plan for a hot walk. I was a little disappointed by a huge house? being built quite close to the trail so construction noises echoed all around.
The clouds were a little better than I'd been getting previously, so I took lots of sand dunes with sky or clouds pics there. I also got there near noon, so my circular polarizer could work without heavily altering colors. Keep in mind this is a very cheap polarizer, it came in a set with a UV filter for $20.
^Circular polarizer set at diff rotations, same time as below
The polarizer limits light from diff angles from entering the lens, which has several uses, making skies bluer, killing reflections on wet surfaces, and at least partially removing reflections on shiny surfaces.
Sections of the beach were closed off for breeding birds, but the section that was open I found quite nice, and healthier seeming than the basic beach at the resort we all stay at. This beach had plenty of barnacles and snails on the rocks that were being exposed by low tide. I've found the resort beach to be a generic beach, ie it has sand, small amounts of shells, and rocks, but very little interesting life. The fact that they tractor it at least once a week to keep it neat likely doesn't help its sterility.
Several cement and stone poles, possibly left over from a dock, had awesome bright yellow lichen growing on them.
Other than the WellFleet Bay Sanctuary this is my next favorite place for photos on the Cape. It would have been even better if the dang darner dragonflies would have just landed.
This is a trail I didn't try last year, so was all new this year. I quite enjoyed the chunk I went on. I arrived around low tide, which is really the best time to walk in tidal flats, or on a beach. The trail went much farther than I ended up walking, and the furthest parts are underwater at some high tides. Just like at Audubon's Wellfleet Bay there were plenty of fiddler crabs underfoot. The parts of the trail I went on had no shade whatsoever, so plan for a hot walk. I was a little disappointed by a huge house? being built quite close to the trail so construction noises echoed all around.
The clouds were a little better than I'd been getting previously, so I took lots of sand dunes with sky or clouds pics there. I also got there near noon, so my circular polarizer could work without heavily altering colors. Keep in mind this is a very cheap polarizer, it came in a set with a UV filter for $20.
^Circular polarizer set at diff rotations, same time as below
The polarizer limits light from diff angles from entering the lens, which has several uses, making skies bluer, killing reflections on wet surfaces, and at least partially removing reflections on shiny surfaces.
Sections of the beach were closed off for breeding birds, but the section that was open I found quite nice, and healthier seeming than the basic beach at the resort we all stay at. This beach had plenty of barnacles and snails on the rocks that were being exposed by low tide. I've found the resort beach to be a generic beach, ie it has sand, small amounts of shells, and rocks, but very little interesting life. The fact that they tractor it at least once a week to keep it neat likely doesn't help its sterility.
Several cement and stone poles, possibly left over from a dock, had awesome bright yellow lichen growing on them.
Other than the WellFleet Bay Sanctuary this is my next favorite place for photos on the Cape. It would have been even better if the dang darner dragonflies would have just landed.
2 comments:
Cool pictures. How hard are the trails on Great Island?
They weren't that bad, though I did have to go around noon, because that was low tide that week. It was mostly just hot.
Post a Comment