Today was a gorgeous day! Mt. Rainier was out in all her glory for the entire day.
Reflection Lake Sunrise
I got up
at 5:00 to shoot sunrise at Reflection Lake
.
Carol had already decided to sleep in and recuperate from yesterday's hike. When I reached
Reflection Lake, it was already getting light but the sun wasn't hitting the mountain yet. All the photographers lined up in their favorite
spots to shoot the reflections at sunrise. As we're all waiting for the big event, a workshop leader arrives with his group and tells them
it's OK to tramp down the wildflowers on the way down to the lake edge because the Park Service doesn't care if they're at the lake's edge.
We "voiced our displeasure" as they started walking into our pictures and prevented most of the rest of his group from damaging
the plants and walking in front of the rest of us. It's bad enough when people who don't know better trample such fragile areas, but a
workshop leader should know better. And this workshop leader even encouraged his group to follow his terrible example. I'm glad that more
and more people are speaking up when they see this kind of behavior. I should have gotten the name of the workshop and sent a letter
to the Park Service and suggested they may not want to give this guy future permits to hold his workshops in the park. Maybe then,
these leaders will put a little more emphasis on education and protecting the environment we all love to photograph.
Wisps of fog covered the lake in the minutes before sunrise, but the fog was leaking out the east side of the lake and flowing back down into Stevens Canyon. There were no clouds in the sky, so the sunrise was over very quickly. There were good reflections of Mt. Rainier, but there was nothing else to make a good image.
Myrtle Falls
Since the "mountain was out," I decided to drive back to Paradise and re-shoot Myrtle Falls with Mt. Rainier in the background.
When I arrived at Paradise, the parking lot was only about 10% filled and there were very few people around. I hiked up to Myrtle
Falls
on a nearly empty trail. Only some deer on the hillside greeted me. I had the area for shooting the waterfall completely to myself,
so I could take all the time I wanted and experiment with different settings and compositions. I loved it.
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There were a couple of groups on the trail when I finished shooting the falls, but there were so few people that I didn't have to worry about anyone walking into my shots. As I walked up the Skyline Trail, I couldn't believe all the wildflowers. There wasn't a huge diversity in the wildflowers, but they were thick and provided the foreground for shots of Mt. Rainier or the Tatoosh Range. I shot, walked 4 or 5 feet, and found another composition to shoot. This went on for over an hour. I filled my 32 GB card before 8:30. I ventured up the beginning of the Golden Gate Trail in hopes of seeing the marmots, but today the trail was all about wildflowers. I didn't see a single marmot.
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On to Mazama Ridge!
Shooting the wildflowers on Mazama Ridge became a very high priority based on the images and reports I found while doing the trip research.
Our original plan was for Carol to drop me off at 4th Crossing and then pick me up at the end of the Lakes Trail near Reflection Lake. By the time
I was done shooting wildflowers above Myrtle Falls, I'd already climbed most of the elevation required for Mazama Ridge. I decided to continue
on the Skyline Trail and then take the Lakes Trail down to Mazama Ridge rather than going back to camp and returning in the afternoon. But then
the trail turned a corner and dropped down to a valley just above 4th Crossing. I lost nearly all the elevation I had previously gained.
I continued up the valley and stopped by a small waterfallto
eat some trail mix and hydrate. I was the only one there and was sitting on
a rock looking for pikas in the scree field above the stream. I didn't see any pikas, but several marmots came down to the stream for breakfast.
One marmot, in particular, loved the lupine. He put his front feet on the lupine stem and then bit off the top. He was a serious eater! Later,
a young marmot ventured out of the grass and sat beside the stream to get a drink. It was probably only a year old.
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| Paradise Valley | Hoary Marmot | Dipper | Dipper Hunting for Insects |
As I was about to pack up, I saw a dipper on a rock in the stream. It stuck its head under the water and grabbed something and swallowed it. He cleaned all the bugs off the rocks near him and then "swam" completely under the surface of the stream. He was amazing and continued hunting for several minutes until another hiker scared him off.
From the waterfall, it was a climb to the top of Mazama Ridge.
The trail was in excellent shape and well-graded, so it was relatively easy.
When I reached the trail junction, I left the Skyline Trail and joined the Lakes Trail down Mazama Ridge. The top 1/2 mile had very few flowers
and had snow in some of the depressions. That area won't peak for another week or 10 days. After about 3/4 of a mile, the trail turned a corner
and dropped below a flower field. This flower field had a greater variety of flowers than up above Myrtle Falls, but the flowers weren't as dense
and didn't have the same impact.
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When I saw the trail dropping into the trees, I decided it was time to turn back. I climbed back up Mazama Ridge, dropped down into the valley near 4th Crossing, and then climbed back up to the ridge above Myrtle Falls. By now the trail was full of hikers, most of which made some kind of comment when we passed about what a perfect day it was. I was in no hurry and enjoyed the marvelous scenery. As I turned one corner, I looked down on Paradise Valley toward the Visitor Center. The cars were parking all the way down the one-way road that goes around Paradise Valley nearly to the point where we'd seen the mother bear and cubs. Those people had to hike over a mile up a long hill to even get to the Visitor Center.
When I returned to the Visitor Center parking lot, I couldn't believe all the people. It was like Christmas shopping the week before Christmas. There were lines to do everything. I couldn't wait to get in my Explorer and get out of there. But then I had to fight all the traffic of people trying to get to the Visitor Center. I thought I was on the I-805 at rush hour.
We grilled hamburgers for dinner and went to the ranger program to cap off a great day.
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