Paradise Glacier — Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013

Mount Rainier Area > SW - Longmire/Paradise

Went back down to Rainier in search of more wildflower pictures. After overnighting over near Lake Tipsoo and catching the sunrise over there, I headed over to Paradise to see how the flowers were doing. Around nine am I set off up the Skyline and Lakes trails and found floral bliss. I scouted for a bit and then headed down back to Paradise for a nap. My goal was to get back on the trail in the evening for the best light. That evening after some napping and some fun people watching at the Visitor Center, I packed up my gear and headed back into the flower fields. My gear for this kind of thing includes Canon 5D mk2, Zeiss 21mm, 28mm, 50mm and 100mm lenses and polarizer filters. I also brought my Gitzo GT0540 Carbon tripod (weighs 2lbs with ball head). Everything goes into an Arcteryx 30L pack which seems to work well with my back. I've worked over the years lightening up my gear and this set up seems to cover whatever I'm likely to come across in the field. So my goal was to get to the end of the Paradise Glacier trail and work my way back down as the light got better after 7pm-ish. I found several extremely photogenic tarns up top and captured those. Also several fields of lupine, paintbrush and other wonderful flowers. I made it back to the trailhead about 9pm.