Last week I went on a quick afternoon hike in Mt. Rainier National Park. The trail I picked started at Mowich Lake and went up past Eunice Lake to the fire lookout on Tolmie Peak. It was pretty gray when I started, but I had high hopes for clearing skies and beautiful views of Mt. Rainier at sunset. Both lakes were beautiful, and the sun did come out for a while, which was very exciting! I didn't stop for too long, though, as I was trying to get to the lookout for the great mountain views.
In the above picture of Eunice Lake, you can just make out the fire lookout tower up on the ridge toward the left. You can see that the sky is blue, and I was getting my hope up, so I started back up.
I saw some beautiful hawks on the hike up the ridge, but I had the wrong lens out, and I didn't want to miss my shot at the good light on the mountain, so I kept hiking.
As I got higher up, I could see the base of the ice fields and glaciers on Mt Rainier and it looked the it was clearing a bit more.
The very moment that I made it to the lookout tower, a cloud came up from behind the ridge, and within a couple minutes I was completely engulfed in the cloud, with visibility of about 30 feet. So I packed up and headed for the car, to try and make it back before dark. I just made it, and managed to get a couple shots of the nice sunset from the drive out.
Maybe next time I'll get to see the mountain.
Thanks for looking,
Jim
Posted on 08-24-2007
