Summer on a Mountain - Photo Excursion

I was in the habit of recounting family things for you all to see, but here is a little I got the opportunity to go to Mt Rainier in late June to photograph stars at night, so I jumped at the chance. This of course requires lots of things, first and foremost is that the roads need to be free and clear of snow, which often they arent' by late June around here. Soundsphoto excursion I took with some fellow hiker/photographer friends. It also requires skipping a night of sleep. I tucked the kids in bed and my ride picked me up at 10:30 PM. We drove for almost 3 hours until we reached the Tipsoo Lake parking lot on Mt. Rainier. It was empty except for one kombie (VW convertable bus) and it's inhabitants were clearly asleep. The lot was only 2/3 visible, the rest still under about 3 feet of snow, slowly melting in the now almost bearable summer night temps (about 45 to 50 degrees at 5200 feet elevation). All the trails were still snowy too, and in the moonless night, we stayed on or very near the plowed roads for safety.

So by 1:30 AM we were set up and recording long photos. Here are the best of them with descriptions:

 [CLICK ON ANY OF THE PHOTOS TO SEE THEM BIGGER]:

Mt Rainier with light from the city reflecting off the clouds, stars above. There was no moon and very faint clouds which made these shots possible.

Milky Way from Mt. Rainier's Tipsoo Lake

Whispy clouds, stars and Jupiter

Mt Rainier, lit by early morning twilight (about 2:30 AM) and climbers en route to summit at night.

Once teh pre-dawn light was bright enough, we hiked across the snow fields, past the snow-covered lake to a good vantage for seeing dawn.

Dawn over Tipsoo Lake, still frozen.

Mountain and Tipsoo Lake at dawn.

On the way home, about 6:30 AM, we drove to the nearest pass which allowed access to the Pacific Crest Trail. I have wanted to get on that bugger for a couple years now and have failed. It is a continuous trail that runs down the spine of the Cascade Mountains and adjacent ranges from British Columbia to California. I just wanted to put my feet on it. But you can see below what happened instead.

We climbed onto a snowbank, up a small hill where the snow was very deep, and into a clearing. Here I found a sign.

And the sign was under 5 feet of snow. Maybe I'll try again in September!