Mount Rainier

mount rainier sunrise reflection lakes

Photo: Mount Rainer at dawn from Reflection Lake, Mt Rainier national park, Washington.

I know better than to show up in a national park without a campground reservation on a Friday, but I had to be back in Portland on Saturday so I didn’t have much of a choice.  I thought that by arriving pretty early there might be something available, but nope, the whole place was reserved.  Oh well, I guess I’d worry about sleeping options later and so I headed up to Paradise to do a bit of hiking.  The perfect summer weather and seeing a few climbers coming down off the mountain made me wish I’d brought my gear with me, but without a partner there wouldn’t be much I could do anyway.  So I had to content myself to wandering around with the crowds of tourists on the hiking trails.

Sunset was boring and uneventful.  And anyhow, summer is not a good time for the south side of the mountain as the sun sets too far to the north for any good light.  I headed off to the overnight hiker parking to sleep in my truck for the night and hopefully not to get a ticket from a ranger.  As the morning arrived I ended up at the Reflection Lakes, along with every other photographer in Washington state.  My jaw kind of dropped as I pulled up alongside the 10-15 cars already there in the morning darkness, and which continued to show up for the next hour.  I’m pretty unfamiliar with the Rainier area, but it looks like I must have found the place to be.  Sunrise was also pretty boring and after an hour of so of getting eaten by mosquitoes it was time to head south towards Portland.

Reflection lakes

Photo: Crescent moon in Reflection lake, Mt Rainier national park, Washington.

 

Mount Rainier

Photo: Mt Rainier from near Paradise, Mt Rainier national park, Washington.

Rialto Beach – Olympic National Park

Rialto Beach Olympic national park

Photo: Sunset at Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington

For the last couple weeks I’ve been on a road trip up north.  Most my time was spent visiting friends in Portland, as well as a few days a bit further north in Washington.  I had been to Rialto beach a few years back and I remembered it being a pretty cool place.  The entire beach is covered in the most massive driftwood I have ever seen, ancient trees up to 6 feet in diameter and a hundred feet long.  I can hardly imagine the power of the storms that deposited the trees there, but it must have been a sight.  In summer things are a bit calmer, but I think it is still one of those places where the wind always blows and the waves always crash with a bit more fury than down here in California.    I got a bit lucky with a somewhat decent sunset on my first evening.  My second day was mostly thick fog, that while not especially photogenic, seems quite fitting and appropriate for a place like Rialto.

Rialto Beach Olympic national park

Photo: Sunset at Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington

 

Rialto Beach Olympic national park

Photo: Sea stacks and incoming tide at Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington

Rialto Beach Olympic national park

Photo: Sunset at Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington

Rialto Beach Olympic national park

Photo: Sunset at Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington

 

Rialto Beach Olympic national park

 

Rialto Beach Olympic national park

 

Rialto Beach Olympic national park

Smoky Sky over Lake Crescent

Landscape travel stock photography: Smoke from wildfire covers sun over lake Crescent, Washington

Lake Crescent, Washington.

I had been up long before sunrise, photographing out on the coast.  As the sky lightened into another typical gray morning I noticed a faint bit of coloring which I thought a bit odd.  I didn’t make much note of it the time but as soon as I came across this sight, it popped back into my mind as I recognized that it had been smoke.  Only one thing turns the sun that color in the middle of the day.  Not sure where the fire was, but there were numerous fires in the area at the time.

Rialto Beach – Olympic national park

Travel landscape stock photography: Rialto Beach, Olympic national park, Washington

Travel landscape stock photography: Rialto Beach, Olympic national park, Washington

Rialto Beach, Olympic national park, Washington.

Second Beach

Travel landscape photography: Second Beach, Olympic national park, Washington

Second Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington.

Typical gray sky of the the Pacific Northwest.