Tahoma Sunrise

Last February, a friend and I headed up to Mount Rainier bright early in the hopes of watching (and of course photographing) the sunrise. Our plans didn't quite pan out, though; we learned that the gates on the Road to Paradise, just beyond Longmire, didn't open until after sunrise. So, we headed back to the Kautz Creek trailhead, and walked out to the creek overlook for this view of Mount Rainier, and had the good fortune of having some nice clouds in the sky.

Mount Saint Helens

We left Seattle at midnight, at the very end of Triskadekaphobia Day, also known as Friday the 13th. When we arrived at around 3am, the sky was very dark, and we marvelled at the intensity of the stars, the fact that we could clearly see the Milky Way while we put on our hiking boots and all that. The sky lightened quickly though, so we didn't get very many star shots.

The sky was very clear, as we were above the thick clouds in the valleys. By the pre-dawn light, we could see the dense layer of clouds that filled the north fork of the Toutle River Valley; normally an expanse of desolation five miles wide, this time it looked like a sea of clouds.