Last week, I braved the heat and made a quick one-night camping trip to the Mount Rainier area. To beat the heat, I started my hike at Sunrise at sunrise. It was an early wake-up call to be sure, since I needed to leave time to have breakfast and drive to the trailhead. There's honestly something magical, though, about eating my granola and drinking my coffee while looking up at the stars.
I've seen in trip reports that it hasn't been a banner year for wildflowers up at Sunrise, and my observations during the hike reflected that. But I did find a few nice pockets of aster, as I hoped I would, including those below. I set up at this vantage point very shortly after sunrise; by the time I'd perfected the composition to the result below, the light had progressed a bit and wasn't quite as warm and gentle. It's still my favorite from the day, though. F/5.6.
Next, Mount Rainier from Burroughs Mountain, with purple lupine in the foreground. I would have liked the lupine to be larger in the composition, but this was as close as I could get without putting the tripod on meadow plants. I think the composition would really come into its own at a print size. F/18.
Lastly, two big views from Sourdough Ridge. F/18 and F/16, respectively. I've said this before, but I love how on clear days in the mountains, green fades to blue as the topography gets more distant.
That's all for now; I didn't have much time for photography before heat and harsh lighting took over. Hopefully the smoke and wildfires will ease off in their severity soon - late August and early September can be a very lovely time of year for hiking.
