It remained cool and cloudy today. It didn't rain, but the clouds obscured The Mountain all day. We talked to two people this afternoon who arrived yesterday and still haven't seen Mt. Rainier.
Clouds obscuring Mt. Rainier quickly cut our photographic options. However, bright, cloudy skies are great for shooting wildflowers. We returned to the area near Reflection Lake and got a little more serious about getting some good wildflower images. This time, I used my macro lens and concentrated more on the smaller but more colorful flowers. I was especially focused on getting good images of the tiger lilies and the western columbines. I added yarrow, small-flowered penstemon, harebells, thistles, and Jeffrey Shooting Stars to the wildflowers I photographed earlier in the week. We shot for about an hour in an area that was only about 30 yards long. The wildflowers in the subalpine areas are peaking this week.
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| Tiger Lily | Western Columbine | Rosy Spiraea | Small-flowered Penstemmon | Harebell |
We drove back to camp, ate lunch, and downloaded the morning images. Even though Mt. Rainier wasn't visible, we decided to drive up to Paradise and hike over to Myrtle Falls for the afternoon. This is normally a spectacular shot as Mt. Rainier rises over a ridge behind Myrtle Falls. There would be no spectacular background, but we still wanted to check out the falls. The good news was that the overcast day would provide very even light and no harsh contrasts; perfect for shooting waterfalls.
Paradise
The parking lot
at Paradise was packed. Even with the overcast skies, there were people everywhere. We joined the crowds trudging up the trail
toward Myrtle Falls. It's only a 1/2-mile hike to the falls, but the trail continues upward to several possible trail junctions
and destinations. Myrtle Falls was far enough for us today, so we photographed Edith Creek and
Myrtle Falls
. We had to stand
in a queue for a chance to photograph the falls from the viewpoint. That was a little hard on our creativity.
And then, we discovered the marmots just up the trail above Edith Creek. We missed them playing in a small pond, but we enjoyed watching them snack on the wildflowers. They seemed to enjoy the yellow glacier lilies, especially. Marmots are always fun to watch, and the three along the trail alternated being the center of attention. These marmots are significantly larger than the marmots in the Sierras, but they have the same inquisitive and playful personality.
With no hope of seeing Mt. Rainier, we returned to camp, had an early taco dinner, and watched a movie while we downloaded images. Considering the lousy weather, we had a pretty good day.
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