Weather Dichotomy at Rainier

My first real outing of the year, so I head to Rainier of course. I spent the early afternoon hiking around Sunrise -- Sourdough Ridge to Frozen Lake then back to Sunrise, about 3 miles. It was so hazy from a forest fire at Grand Park that you could barely see the mountain. I didn't even bother to take my tripod. I took some snapshots for documentation, but nothing worth posting. There are still some wildflowers there, mainly bistort on the ridge slopes and patches of lupine along the creeks, but Sunrise seems to be well past peak.

Afterword I drove down to Stevens Canyon and hit a wall of fog -- there was the overcast weather they'd predicted, and then some. The fog was so thick it was virtually a whiteout, pretty much for the entire rest of the trip. I spent a little time admiring Nickel Creek (there's a big log in the photo now) while I ate lunch, and was disappointed at the lack of flowers as I swung by Reflection Lakes.

I spent the rest of the day on the 4th Crossing Trail off Paradise Valley Road, on my hands and knees in the mud trying my hand at macro photography (to mixed results). The wildflowers are amazing there right now, as they seem to be every year. The fog was thick and the sky was dark, and a steady drizzle coated everything with water droplets. It would have made for some interesting photos, but they didn't come out quite as well as I'd hoped. I'm still pretty green at macro, and my old camera is just not up to the task. Perhaps it's time to get another.

Thinking of going back again tomorrow.



PS. Trying out some new things with the layout. Please bear with me.