Return to Rainier Wildflowers

Back again to Mount Rainier for more wildflower photography. Saturday in August means crowds, so Paradise was pretty much off limits. There wasn't a free parking spot anywhere to be found around Paradise or even Paradise Valley, so I spent my time around Reflection Lakes instead. There was far too much fog to shoot any landscapes, so once again I focused on the abundant wildflowers. The species or different at Reflection Lakes than Paradise, so I had new subjects this trip.

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.

Scouting Rainier Northeast

Today was another day of sunny skies with clouds shrouding Rainier, so I decided to scout another area outside the park for views, this time to the northeast. I'd explored the area around Sun Top minimally before, but that day had been completely overcast and the gate closed. This time proved better for views, but just as tricky for access. There was some kind of footrace along the road, and the parking lot at the top was overflowing. I was able to scout enough from a turnout to see the logging scars in the foreground that marred an otherwise great view of Rainier and knew there were no photos there.



Those logging scars were on Huckleberry Mountain and promised better views into the park, so I headed down FS-73 and explored all the side roads and spurs. There's an intricate network of roads where FS-73, FS-74 and FS-74 converge and several of the spurs end near the park boundary. These promised views into the park without a scarred foreground, and several of them did indeed turn out to be decent access points with potential for sunset photos.



There were some interesting clouds hugging the ridge tops across the West Fork White River Valley, and I wanted to cross over to explore around the Clearwater Wilderness for additional viewpoints, but much to my surprise, the entire length of FS-74 is closed due to the floods. The person I talked to at the closure said the bridge had washed out upstream and it would probably be several years before the road was repaired. Until then, all the roads to the west of the river were inaccessible, including access to Clearwater Wilderness -- and all the trails therein. I ended up exiting the road network via FS-75 so I could head down to Sunrise for evening photos, and caught a hazy glimpse of Rainier from Haller Pass.



On the way to Sunrise, I drove up to the Crystal Mountain ski area and explored the small amount of roads there. They proved to be uninspiring, without so much as a view into the park, but I did find one that connected with the road network near the Goat Falls Trail. I always wondered where that road went. I made it to Sunrise Point as the clouds were rolling in, and I had hopes of the sunset light arriving before the clouds obscured the area, ala Kolob Canyons at Zion. I only managed a quick photo of Dege Peak as they rolled in, and after driving the road between Sunrise and Sunrise Point several times looking for breaks in the fog, I finally conceded defeat.