On Thursday, Jay Goodrich and I headed out of Seattle for a little hike around mighty Mount Rainier. Art set us out with directions to Eunice lake and off we went. What was supposed to be an easy, breezy 2.5 mile hike turned out to be more of an adventure than expected. Not only were the bugs outrageously voracious (I still have welts the size of a quarter 4 days later), but we the trail was still covered in snow as high as 6ft in some places. After the long hike up, we also find out that the lake is mostly frozen. This is where Jay and I lose it and revoke Art’s guiding and photography permits. The decree has yet to be approved by Congress, but we are confident that it will pass .

More seriously though, once we got around the lake, we finally saw what Art was leading us to:  a great view of the towering peak, nicely complemented by a beautiful reflection in Eunice lake. This shot is a stitch from 5 vertical shots merged in photoshop CS4 and is better enjoyed in large format (click on the picture for that).

Later that evening, after hiking down in the dark, we stopped for some star trail shots on a moonless night. More on that in my next post.

I have just returned to Ottawa as I am writing this (Sunday) and will resume my regular activities time allowing.