We drove up and met at the camp on Friday, and then headed out to the Comet Falls hike. We got really lucky, as the snow had just cleared enough over the previous week to make the trail safe without ice axes. We first encountered some falls that we mistook for Comet Falls. They were quite nice, but not particularly exciting.
 |
| From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July |
Then Andy figured out that we were being idiots, and we walked a few hundred more feet and found our true destination. Allen decided it was the best waterfall he had ever seen. It was quite large, and you could get right up close to it and bask in its mist.
 |
| From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July |
After the hike, we headed back to camp for a nice dinner over the fire (mostly fresh Salmon) and some whiskey and beer. We called it an early night to get ready for a busy Saturday.
Saturday morning Julien and I got up at 4:45 to take some pictures of the mountain at sunrise. We headed over to Reflection Lake and setup our tripods and took a bunch of shots.
 |
| From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July |
We then headed back to camp, had some breakfast, and then set out for some hiking up near Paradise. Allen, Melvin, and Ann decided to hike from Paradise up to Camp Muir, the base camp for the standard summit route. The rest of us were not feeling that ambitious. We followed in their footsteps up to Panoramic Point and Pebble Creek before turning back. Couple things of note from this trip. (1) I love my polarizer. (2) Kevin's Yacktracks saved the day. Janel would have had a real hard time with her recovering knee negotiating the snow without them. We are going to grab a couple pairs despite the "they are great until they break" reviews.
Here is a photo of a Marmot (which were all over the place) with the mountain.
 |
| From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July |
Here is a photo looking south with Adams, Hood (in the distance in the middle), and St. Helens from Panorama Point.
 |
| From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July |
That afternoon Jason met us at camp. Michelle, him, Kevin, and Andy hiked up the Westside Road (now largely closed to cars) to Lake George and gave the hike poor reviews. Janel, Julien, and I relaxed and read at camp.
That evening we had another fire. Here is a photo of Janel cooking a marshmallow. I love being able to take low-light photos with my new camera. You still get some noise at ISO 1600, but in general the photos look pretty solid.
 |
| From Mt Rainier Camping - 4th of July |
The next morning we packed up camp and headed out. The first big trip of the year was a success!
1 comment:
Very nice, your shot at reflection lake is worth hanging at the wall in a very large print ! I'm actually jealous. Comet falls with the creek is a great success as well.
Yay for polarizers, I got some of my skies almost black :).
Post a Comment