Sunrise on the Noblest Mountain

coscorrosa

"Of all the fire mountains which like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest" -- John Muir

I think John might be on to something!

I told myself that I needed to take a break from photography after exhausting nearly all of my vacation romping through the Rockies, Southwest, and waterfalls and fall color in the Pacific Northwest in the past two months.

But I still reflexively check the forecast at a few of my favorite local spots anyway, just in case...

Last night I noticed that the forecast at Rainier looked very promising for sunrise (25% cloud cover, after recent snow fall, full moon), and since the road will be closed for the season soon due to snow, I figured it would be worth checking out, photography hiatus be damned, and set the alarm for 3AM.

I'm glad I did.

Not only did the sunrise turn the mountain pink, but so did the (nearly) full moon about 15 minutes before dawn, and the cloud cover was perfect.

Here are a few of my favorites.

#1: Glow at sunrise



#2: Before dawn, the moon turned the mountain pink for a brief period of time, and there was even a rainbow among the clouds and stars.



#3:



#4: I saw this composition early, but the light didn't highlight the s-curve until a little after sunrise.



I made it back home at 9 AM and into work before 10 AM

dseidman

Holy $#!+. You said you got some good pictures but this is even better than I was expecting. If I knew sunrise was going to be this good, I would have accepted that open invitation to go along with you. This is worth another week of being sick.

anwmn1

Dang! Wish I could pull off a good shoot and still get to work on time.

First two are quite awesome as usual.

dlplumer

It's hard to believe, but you keep outdoing yourself

Sunrise pink, moon light blue color, reflections, snow, mountains, water, clouds, alpine glow, s curves, give me a fr...n break

shades

Beautiful shots! I really like number 3. The reflections and the moon shine are great.

coscorrosa

dseidman wrote:

Holy $#!+. You said you got some good pictures but this is even better than I was expecting. If I knew sunrise was going to be this good, I would have accepted that open invitation to go along with you. This is worth another week of being sick.

Thanks, and I agree that experiencing something like this is worth a week of being sick. I've been up to Rainier dozens of times and have never regretted going even if the conditions didn't cooperate. But I've regretted not going many times. So I figured the easiest way to avoid regret is just to go all the time

It was really cool seeing the moonlight alpenglow (which also affected the color of the clouds). The one other time I had been at Rainier under a full moon at sunrise there was too much cloud cover for that.

coscorrosa

anwmn1 wrote:

Dang! Wish I could pull off a good shoot and still get to work on time.

First two are quite awesome as usual.

Thanks Aaron. This particular spot is only about 80 miles away and usually I can get there at sunrise in less than two hours. I'm really lucky to live so close.

coscorrosa

dlplumer wrote:

It's hard to believe, but you keep outdoing yourself

Sunrise pink, moon light blue color, reflections, snow, mountains, water, clouds, alpine glow, s curves, give me a fr...n break

As much as I'd like to take full credit for it, when you see something this awesome all you have to do is take the lens cap off and let nature do the rest

coscorrosa

shades wrote:

Beautiful shots! I really like number 3. The reflections and the moon shine are great.

Thanks Bart. There were two peaks, when the moon lit up the mountain and surrounding clouds about 15 minutes before dawn, and right at sunrise when the sun did the same thing.

ront

Ron, I have come to expect nothing but the best from you and this series is no exception.
These are beautiful!!

Ron

Dogdots

These are just beautiful Jaw droppin' stunning.

Well worth getting up at 3AM and picking up the camera while taking a break from photography. I've found that even if I set the camera down...my mind/eyes are still looking for something

bryanj87

You captured an amazing sunrise. As usual, it's hard to pick a favorite, but I do really like those moon shots. When I see shots like these, it inspires me to try harder. Or just throw away my camera.

kdog

Early bird catches the worm. Really great stuff Ron.

choudhrysaab

really GREAT shots man.

Doug Solis

Great stuff Ron! really lovely series, I've got to get up there one of these months.

wirehunt

Impressive indeed.

Awais Yaqub

Beauty !
Very nice photographs as always

coscorrosa

ront wrote:

Ron, I have come to expect nothing but the best from you and this series is no exception.
These are beautiful!!

Ron

Thanks Ron, but it's going to be awhile before I'll get a scene this awesome to shoot, so hopefully you'll lower your expectations for my next few posts

coscorrosa

Dogdots wrote:

These are just beautiful Jaw droppin' stunning.

Well worth getting up at 3AM and picking up the camera while taking a break from photography. I've found that even if I set the camera down...my mind/eyes are still looking for something

Definitely, I was very glad I decided to go up there, I've conditioned myself to long drives (this was a short one - only 2 hours each way) and to no sleep, so that part wasn't a problem, I just got really lucky with the cloud cover and the moon and the ice and reflection... all the elements came together.

coscorrosa

bryanj87 wrote:

You captured an amazing sunrise. As usual, it's hard to pick a favorite, but I do really like those moon shots. When I see shots like these, it inspires me to try harder. Or just throw away my camera.

Thanks Bryan. The only reason I have these shots and you don't is because you weren't there. If you were there your shots would be just as good. So don't give up your hobby, but you might want to consider moving to the western side of the country

coscorrosa

Thanks for the comments everyone! Hopefully there will be at least one more time I can make it up to Rainier before they close the road due to snow, but there's a lot of snow in the forecast so this might have been my last opportunity at this spot for awhile.

aj986s

#1 is gorgeous!!

shniks

Awesome shots Ron. #1 is my fave. You got it going man!!!



Cheers,