Sunrise on Mount Rainier viewed across Reflection Lake.
I will finish my reminisce of my Mount Rainier weekend with today’s post.
It was a glorious experience hiking around the mountain. Any direction I looked there was stunning beauty. Invariably though my eyes always were drawn to the mountain. On both mornings I got into position before sunrise to capture the event in all it’s glory. Saturday at Reflection Lake was a bit less than I had hoped for due to my inexperience shooting in this type of lighting. The mist rising off the water was kinda cool, but it wasn’t until later in the morning that I got the Reflection Lake pic that had the light balance I wanted.
Mist rising off Reflection Lake about 5:30 am. It was in the low 50’s and not a cloud in the sky.
Waiting for sunrise at Reflection Lake.
A split density filter will be a next purchase for me to get the bright sunrise on the mountain and the darker reflection in the lake. I guess that means I have to come back.
The mountain’s reflection in the flower-filled shoreline.
The first kiss of sun on Mount Rainier’s peak viewed from Reflection Lake.
Seeing as in a mirror darkly.
After my hike up to the top of Plummer Peak I returned and got the Reflection shot I had hoped for earlier in the day.
Really cool pic of the peak in Reflection Lake.
Sunday at Sunrise delivered in excellent fashion.
Arriving at Sunrise Point about half an hour before sunrise, I found 20 or so people already awaiting with cameras and tripods ready. The glow advancing up the horizon was rich with color and promise.
Boosting my exposure brought distant peaks in the Cascade range into relief against the brightened sky.
I waited at Sunrise Point until almost sunrise, but the gathering crowd was not quite as interested in quiet and courteous reflection on the magnificent sunrise so I moved a little closer to the mountain and set up in a lonely pull-off on the final approach to Sunrise parking area.
Here I greeted the sun as it gently dawned on the peak and slid down the glacier-covered slope.
About two minutes before first sun on the crest.
Sunrise has arrived to the peak.
Sunrise on the Mountain.
The sunshine walks down the mountainside.
A few folks I met later who were out on the trail through the night said they could see the lights of the mountain climbers in the darkness up at the peak.
Dawn breaks in a wondrous display of color.
Who needs words – the pictures speak for themselves.
The last of the golden glow shots as the sun crests the horizon and the light brightens.
Morning has arrived and I head to the trails above Sunrise.
The next pics are of some of the wildflowers and fields aflame with living color. I talked with a few people and they expressed disappointment that the flowers are so far ahead of their normal schedule and many have already peaked. While I accept their local knowledge, I couldn’t let their disappointment cause me to miss the riot of color and life bursting from meadow and rocky ledge alike.
View east over Burroughs #1 to the Cascades.
Hardy ground cover leaps to life when the snows melt to take advantage of the 3 month or so growing season.
Locals told me the flower display was less than normal, however to a first time visitor the many hues interspersed amongst the rocks, boulders, and occasional fir trees was both delicate and dramatic.
The growing season is short and the soil was not much to look at, but the flowers they did sprout.
I could count about a dozen or so different flowers.
This little flower was like many I saw. Although it didn’t look like it should be here, it is and it flourishes.
After hiking around Paradise on Saturday, I stopped at the Grove of the Patriarchs near the Steven’s Canyon entrance into the Park. The Grove is a stand of ancient Western Cedar, Douglas Fir, and Western Hemlock on an island in the middle of the Ohanapecosh River. Being isolated on the island has allowed these trees to avoid both the ravages of fire and the loggers saw. Some of the trees are 1000 years old and 10 feet in diameter. This is a very easy hike, flat and well-shaded. No vistas, stunning views, or challenging climbs, but sometimes a few moments spent in quiet reflection amongst giants is a welcome diversion.
Rounding out my time on Rainier with pics from my morning at Sunrise and on Burroughs Mountain. These are in reverse order of my hike.
My last view of Mount Rainier as I am almost back to the parking area at the Sunrise Visitor Center.
Shadow Lake
This was a campground in the 1920’s on Shadow Lake at Sunrise.
Shadow Lake in Sunrise.
This waterfall is on the side of Goat Island Mountain and is one of the beginnings of the White River.
Close up of the bottom of Emmons Glacier.
View toward Sourdough Ridge across the Sunrise meadows.
Every spring as the snow melts the creeks and rivers rise dramatically scouring the stream beds and carrying rocks, trees, and boulders further and further downstream. The stream bed looks grey and fairly ugly now, but just a few months earlier it was a raging torrent of great power. This is the White River.
View east along the Sunrise Rim Trail back to the road into Sunrise and Sunrise Point.
In the right side of the picture it appears that the stream emerges from a cave. That’s actually the bottom of the Emmons Glacier and the stream is the primary source of the White River. The grey color is due to all the rocks lying on the glacier ice.
As I walked on the Sunrise Rim Trail here I realized a slip could easily result in a 1000 foot or more tumble.
Notice the glacier colored lake in the valley next to the White River.
The Sunrise Rim Trail was nice because it was primarily all downhill. As the name implies you are on the edge of the high meadow where it falls off dramatically to the valley where the Inter Fork and the White Rivers flow.
While the terrain was very tundra like, it did not lack for brilliant patches of color like this one.
A resting spot in the middle of the Sunrise Rim Trail on Burroughs #1.
Trail back down from Burroughs #2.
The waters of Emmons Glacier form the White River which is the valley about a mile below where I was standing. On my drive back to Tacoma I essentially followed this river all the way to where it entered Commencement Bay about a mile from my hotel in Tacoma. I estimate the river length to be about 100 miles since it flows east off the mountain before turning north and then west to the sea.
At the top of Burroughs Mountain, Peak #2. I turned around here and headed back down the Sunrise Rim Trail.
Phlox growing wild on the side of Burroughs Mountain.
Even though the conditions are brutal for much of the year, chipmunks were in abundance wherever I hiked.
More evidence of the lava flow from eras gone by.
Interesting rock formations on the north side of Burroughs Mountain.
Burroughs Mountain Trail up to Burroughs #2 – the second peak of Burroughs Mountain.
Signpost where the Sunrise Rim Trail meets the Burroughs Mountain Trail.
An unnamed lake beside the Wonderland Trail below the Burroughs Mountain Trail.
Frozen Lake which is almost always still frozen at this time of year, but not in 2015.
View from near the top of Burroughs #1 toward Frozen Lake. The peak in the top left is Mount Fremont.
Notice that the Burroughs Mountain terrain is much like the Tundra from areas much further north.
View toward Emmons Glacier from the Sourdough Ridge Trail.
I am so thankful for the time I got to spend in one of the world’s most beautiful places. I am thankful the weather was excellent and that I was able to pack a lot of into the 2 days or so. And when I say I am thankful, I address that partially to my wife who was okay with my staying over the weekend away from home, the folks I work with who gave me plenty of good advice and practical tips, and most of all the One Who made it all possible… from creating it in the first place to providing the wonderful weather to giving me a job that allowed me to do this.
View from my hotel while in Tacoma.
One final thought. As I got into my hotel room I looked out the window back to the mountain and I sensed the Lord whisper, “I’m bigger than the mountain.”
That phrase is richer with meaning for me now. I have been to the mountain and stood in awe of it’s size, it’s beauty, it’s grandeur – but I know God is so much bigger.
I followed the trip to the mountain with a trip to Gauntlet X, our youth event at Daytona Beach which I wrote about in my last post. Many of those in attendance had / have mountains in their life – but God is bigger than those mountains. Many had the mountains in their life removed, while others were given God’s perspective that made their mountain shrink.
I have had mountains in my life, the latest one was an unexpected job loss that left me with some big questions. This weekend was a resounding affirmation that my Heavenly Father not only knows where I am and what is going on in me, He is working it for my ultimate good. (Romans 8:28)
I don’t know where you are now in your relationship with God, but I can say with absolute confidence, God is bigger than your mountain. Ask Him to help you and He will. Please don’t hesitate. If you don’t know Him in a tangible and real way, then that is the first step. Ask the Lord to make Himself known to you and then open your heart to Him. Just speak to Him and God will hear and He will meet you at your point of need.
Also, I would consider it an honor to join you in prayer. Just drop me a comment and I will respond.
areliablefaith 