M O U N T   R A I N I E R   N A T I O N A L   P A R K

Western Washington State

I try to take some shots of the mountain with the sun off to the side but a stupid blue orb keeps showing up. It reminds me of those orb contained photos I've seen on TV where people claim to have captured some kind of mysterious spiritual energy force on film. But I'm not interested in the supernatural, I'm interest in nature. So all I can do now is wait for the sun to cooperate by setting and hope the orb spirits will follow the sun in its westward trek. I'm learning that photography sometimes takes a lot of patience. And there's no rushing the sun so I'm stuck.

You know what? All this waiting on the sun is really boring. It's 8pm and I have at least 90 minutes to go, I need to somehow better pass the time. Sitting on a rock with chin in hand just isn't cutting it. So I decide to do some climbing.

Well here I am at my eventual vantage point, the place where I'll take all the great shots of Mount Rainier. As you can see, I'm all heeled in and clinging to the side of a steep hill. Normally I don't go off-trail and certainly don't suggest anyone doing it but this is one of those "life's moments" kinda shots. I have to optimize it as best as I can.

So here I sit and wait. I still have a while to wait and I am bored once again. I have to find more entertainment.

So I climb a little higher and discover the slope recedes quite a bit. It's a rather quiet and magical place. A place long lost but now rediscovered by yours truly.