Last Morning in Mount Rainier National Park

Reflecting, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

To successfully capture great images in a locaiton that you've never visited or haven't visited in a while, a lot much of your success depends on being in the right place at the right time. With dawn color well underway by 5am and sunset running past 9pm, logistical efficiency such as staying in a convenient location plays a role as well. I've been to this park before and I have a good photography guide to the park, but the days I've spent this week will set me up very well to crank out good shots on my next return. Hopefully I'll get some scenic weather!

This last dawn in Mount Rainier National Park offered the most intersting sky, at least for a few minutes.


The Paradise Ridge area still has about 10 feet of snow on the ground, but there were patches of flowers in places elsewhere.

Tatoosh Range

Tatoosh Range (Week 1 of 52), originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

The snow it too deep for most of the wildflowers that are normally out by this time of year, but the mountains themselves always make excellent subjects!

Pikas are small members of the rabbit family that inhabit rocky slopes in subalpine environments.




Mount Rainier reflected in Reflection Lake.

Dawn at Sunrise Point

Dawn at Sunrise Point, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

It isn't necessary for every shot here to have Mt. Rainier in it, but then again, why not?

Tipsoo Lake with Mt. Rainier in the background.

Rainier National Park

Reflection Lake Iceout, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

My photography in Rainier National Park started with some night shot attempts under a moonless sky. I took a few short shots to confirm focus, then left the camera open with the North Star directly over Mt. Rainier. It would have been a great shot if I hadn't fallen asleep and overexposed it! I had to settle for this dawn view a couple of hours later instead.

Mt. Rainier received 950 inches of snow this last winter, so there's still a snowpack about 10 feet deep in the Paradise Ridge area where there usually are wildflowers by now.