Reflection Lake
Our plan was to get up at 4:45 to shoot sunrise at Reflection Lake
. This is why I hate traveling in the summer. Sunrise is at 5:30 a.m. and sunset is at 9:00 p.m.
That makes for very LONG days for old folks like us. When we normally travel in the spring and fall, sunrise is more like 8:00 and sunset is 5:30. That works for me,
but this 5:30 a.m. stuff is a bit crazy. But I got up, peaked out the window and saw nothing but clouds. I went back to bed and got up again at about 6:00 and still
only saw clouds. But when I got up at 8:00, it seemed that I may have been faked out and Rainier was visible. Carol and I grabbed all our gear
and rushed up to Reflection Lake to shoot reflections before the breeze picked up.
There was enough breeze to create ripples in the center of the lake, but we found a quiet area in the shallower end of the lake to shoot reflections. The bad news was that the lighting was flat, and the mosquitoes were very hungry. When the swarm of mosquitoes found me, they made me pay dearly for every shot I took.
It was a beautiful morning, and we watched the clouds move back and forth across the face of Mt. Rainier for about 45 minutes. We were in no hurry to leave. It was Saturday, and we knew all the main tourist areas would be packed. We returned to camp, grilled hamburgers and relaxed for the afternoon.
At 5:30, we drove up to the Visitor Center at Paradise where we could get WIFI reception and tried to change some trip reservations. We figured by 5:30 the crowds should be clearing out, and we could find a place to park. It was crazy. We eventually found a parking place, but we saw cars parked along the side of the road at least 1/2 mile from the Visitor Center. The people had a major hike up the mountain just to reach the Visitor Center. I had never seen it this bad. I'm sure it will be just as bad tomorrow.
At 11:30, we returned to Reflection Lake to photograph the Milky Way. There was over a half moon, so we knew it wasn't a very good night to shoot it, but the "good nights" had all been overcast. We weren't the only ones who were shooting at Reflection Lake. There was a fairly large group shooting time-lapses and another few who were shooting on their own. While we were shooting, one of the younger ladies who was shooting near us told us she only lives about 70 miles from Rainier, and she drives up to do night photograhy pretty frequently. Then she showed us some of the images she had shot. We were only seeing them on her cell phone, but they were spectacular! She has been all over the Northwest and Alaska photographing the Milky Way and star trails. She doesn't do any of the technical, astro-tracking stuff, but she had an impressive portfolio.
My shots were far less than spectacular. I had carefully set my focus at infinity in the campground while it was still light, and then taped it in place and switched to manual focus. I had the manual exposure perfect based on the research I had done, but the end result was that the images weren't sharp. The Big Dipper hung over the west side of Rainier, and it seemed clear. But Mt. Rainier was definitely not sharp when I zoomed in. I'd like to chalk it up to a learning experience, but I didn't learn where I goofed. I was glad the exposure was perfect, but it needs to be in focus.
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