Heart Lake

ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/400 sec

Heart Lake is located above Castle Lake, which is in the mountains above the city of Mt Shasta and Lake Siskiyou. To get to this lake you first drive up to Castle Lake. You then take a trail that goes along the left or southern side of the lake and up. The trail isn’t long I would estimate it is only 1.5 miles at the most.

Here are the boys taking a break on the trail. It was pretty warm this day hiking up to Heart Lake. Not sure the exact temperature but the valley was in the high 90’s.

Once at the lake everyone enjoyed swimming or at least wading in Heart Lake. Except for myself….I don’t swim well. I blame it on my high nearsightedness and the need for contact lenses. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

ISO 200, 85mm, f/4.5, 1/250 sec

I had much more of an enjoyable time hiking around looking for nice shots of Mt. Shasta and Castle Lake. The panoramic view from this ridge is amazing.

ISO 100, 62mm, f/4.5, 1/400 sec

ISO 100, 24mm, f/6.3, 1/100 sec

ISO 100, 78mm, f/6.3, 1/400 sec

One thing I learned last year at the landscape photography workshop in Colorado, was that having something interesting in the foreground of your landscape photos is very important. These foreground elements give the photo perspective and draw the eye from near to far.

ISO 100, 24mm, f/6.3, 1/250 sec

ISO 100, 24mm, f/6.3, 1/125 sec

I’m not sure what the obsession is with stacking rocks on one another everywhere. It looks kind of cool, but it is now way over done.

ISO 100, 38mm, f/6.3, 1/250 sec

ISO 100, 44mm, f/4.0, 1/320 sec

This shot of Mt. Shasta has the city of Mt. Shasta in the foreground and is taken from the road to Castle Lake.

I took many wildflower photographs on the way up to and down from Heart Lake. I was able to capture some insects as well on some of the flowers. I think they make the flower shots more interesting.