Pacific Northwest - Mt. Rainier

All I can say about this place is wow! Simply beautiful with 360 degree breathtaking views. I would compare it to the great views hiking Whistler Mountain, but with the wildflowers blooming, I would put it a notch above. There was a bit of snow left, so we were probably a few weeks early for peak wildflower season, but we were fortunate enough to have great weather.

Since we were only there for 1.5 days, we concentrated hiking around the Paradise area. If we ever find ourselves here again, we will check out the Sunrise area, which I hear is suppose to be less crowded.

Hopefully the pictures capture the essence of our trip!


View of Mt. Rainier from Bench Lake


View of Mt. Rainier from Reflection Lakes - I waited here a bit for the clouds to break but it never really peaked through the clouds.

We hiked counterclockwise up the Skyline trail, much of which was still covered in snow.

It was kind of a scramble to the top. Most people heading down just slid down on their ass.

We took the Golden Gate trail back down.



I did wake up for sunrise to capture some nice shots of Mt. Rainier with subtle lighting and no crowds, however it was completely fogged over. I still went out and waited around for hopes of the sun to burn through as it rose. About an hour after sunrise, I was able to capture a few shots of Mt. Rainier and Myrtle falls and a stream nearby.



I snapped a few wildflowers that caught my eye.

Broadleaf Lupine

Avalanche Lilly - Jaime's favorite wildflower here

We were able to see plenty of wildlife, mainly common birds and deer roaming around the area. As we were driving down to a hiking location, we saw a car pulled over on the side of the road and a couple waved us down to stop. Way down in the valley was a black bear and her 2 cubs. Even with my 300mm + 1.4x converter, they were too far to get any real detailed shots and by the time they saw us 4 standing up there they started to move away. I only ended up getting off a few shots before they retreated back into the bushes, however it was very cool to see nonetheless. These are heavily cropped.

American Robin

8/1 was our anniversary, so we ate dinner at the only resturant available inside the park at our lodge. It was either there or a cafe that had sandwiches.

Pasta and crab cakes were meh

Mushroom soup and the lemon cake were good....and I'm not even a big fan of mushrooms.

Our last leg of the PNW trip ended in Seattle, which I will post as soon as I sort through the pictures.

Brandon Yoshizawa
B.A.Y | photography
Landscape and Wildlife photography
http://www.bay-photography.com/