Louise Lake

Mount Rainier Wildflowers – 3

[Part 3 of 3]

Due to my extended stay at Chinook Pass, I was running a bit behind schedule so I raced to Reflection Lakes as soon as possible. This was to be my first trip up Mazama Ridge and based on some research of the topo maps, I had an idea of where I wanted to be for sunset. As I quickly learned, topo maps only tell part of the story and so I had to venture further and higher up the ridge than I had originally anticipated.

Sunset this particular evening was nothing special and a report estimating peak wildflower blooms in another week also seemed true. Still, several locations had magnificant displays of wildflowers..

Moonrise over the Tatoosh Range and Louise Lake
Mazama Ridge Wildflowers
Mazama Ridge Wildflowers
Mazama Ridge Wildflowers
Mazama Ridge Wildflowers
Around the official time for sunset, I finally reached higher and more open ground. I scrambled to find a nice foreground and found this stretch of lupine in bloom. It was getting dark and I had to use longer exposures along with a graduated neutral-density filter to balance exposures for the sky and foreground. Bugs were still quite active making for a hasty session. While these photos looked good during a very quick review in the field, they didn’t not live up to their potential once I was back home. Still an amazing place to experience..

Moonrise of the Tatoosh Range
Mazama Ridge Wildflowers
Sunset, Lupine, and Mount Rainier

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