In early July 2011, my photographic journey took me to the very cool Northwest. I visited Seattle area to drop off my son for his summer camp. I used this opportunity to tour a couple of national parks. Following three days and nights at Olympic Peninsula enjoying Olympic National Park and temperatures in the 70's, I drove to Mt. Rainier. From miles away, the best words to describe my first sighting of Mt. Rainier while driving on the freeway were: overwhelming, dominent, massive, monstrous, and exciting. It was scary to think of it as an active vocano.
In this area the biggest attraction is of course Mt. Rainier National Park. I thought once I was inside the park, it'd probably be harder to get a full view of the main peak. Or at least the view would be very different once you are inside the park. It's like a Chinese saying, 身在山中不见山, or "you no longer see the mountains once you are inside the mountains." I bought a local map in a gas station, asked around, and spent time looking for lakes and open areas where I could get a good shot at Mt. Rainier during my first sunset. This led me to the small Dogwood Park and Clear Lake, near Eatonville along Highway 161. I got a few shots of Mt. Rainier from some distance.
There was another reason I spent time on the heels of the mountain instead of rushing to the top. Before this trip online friends told me that Mt. Rainier was still covered by ice and snow in July. Wild flowers won't blossom until a few weeks later. I thought I would try my luck near the bottom. Indeed I found my luck.
Following the sunset excursion at the foot of the mountain, it took me two hours to drive up to Paradise, Mt. Rainier NP. I stayed at the very historic Paradise Inn for two nights. The curvy mountain roads were a pleasure to drive. The scenes along the way were quite nice, but it was difficult to get a good view of Mt. Rainier due to the ever present forests. By the time I arrived at Paradise Inn, it was 11pm and already very dark. While I was unloading my equipment from my rental car in the parking lot, I noticed it was a very clear night. So clear that I saw many stars and the milky way. After taking a warm shower, I put my jackets on top of my PJs, and started aiming my camera at the stars from the hotel's patio. This was my first time trying to "shoot the stars" in my photographic journey. The excitement lasted until almost 2:00am the next day.
I hope you could feel my excitement through these pictures. /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> /> />>
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(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7) Many friends like No. 6 but don't like the distractive foreground. Here is another shot of the same view but with less ground light adjusted in PS.
(8) This is the same view as #2, but somewhat sharper on the foreground flowers.
