Mt. Rainier National Park is a great spot for landscape photographers, particularly when the wildflowers bloom. The challenge is figuring out ahead of time when the flowers will be at their peak. I've gone to Mt. Rainier twice hoping to photograph the wildflower bloom, but both times I was too early, and the best areas for wildflowers were still under snow.
The photograph above was taken at Reflection Lake, which is still pretty much covered with snow and ice in the photo above. This lake is near the area called Paradise, which is the trailhead for many of the best wildflower spots. The photo below was taken at the same lake just a little ways along the shore on a different year when the snow melt was further along.
The snow melt (and the wildflower bloom) progresses from the lower elevations, such as the photo above, to the higher elevations. However, it is the higher elevations that tend to produce some of the more spectacular blooms, perhaps partly due to the greater abundance of moisture.
The photo above is noteworthy in that the cloud cap shown in this photo formed on the first day of our first visit there. By a couple of hours later in the morning, this cloud cap grew and grew until it was some of the heaviest and most dense fog that you can imagine. If memory serves me correctly, it stayed so foggy for the rest of our stay on that trip that we never got another chance to see the mountain.
The Sunrise entrance to Mt. Rainier is on the west side of the park. On our second visit to the park, although the trails around Paradise were still fully snow covered in mid-August, I was able to find these few flowers around the Sunrise area.
The above photo was taken from one of the trails around the Sunrise entrance to the park. It seems to be considerably drier climate in this area than around Paradise, possibly because the Sunrise area may be in the rain shadow of the mountain. This could also account for why the trails above the Paradise visitor center have a reputation for producing a more prolific wildflower bloom. During our visit, then Vice-President Al Gore was in the local news for making an un-announced climb to the top of the mountain. In all candor, I'm not sure that I've ever been in good enough physical condition to be able to make that climb and back. Even climbing modest ridges for photos in the Sunrise area was enough to have me huffing and puffing for breath in the thin air!
Of course, there is a lot of other scenery to photograph in Mt. Rainier National Park besides wildflowers. This park has many, many waterfalls, including the one pictured above. On the last day of our visit during my most recent trip here, I hiked several miles above Christine Falls, until I ran into such heavily snow-packed trails that I decided to turn back.
Both Vickie and I consider Mt. Rainier to be one of our favorite parks. I'm hoping that someday we can return for a longer stay, and enable us to catch the wildflower bloom at it's peak! I hope my friends who view these pages can someday have a chance to visit there, too!
Bill
As usual, I am amazed with your photos. Thank you so much for sharing with all of us!!!
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