Yesterday I made a trip to Mount Rainier National Park in the state of Washington and was delighted and amazed by the incredible scenery that I observed. Many of the mountains were covered in snow and the clouds were moving among the peaks, sometimes letting them come into view, but frequently concealing them.
I was able to drive as far as an area called Paradise that is 5400 feet (1646 meters) above sea level. Although the roads and parking areas were clear, the surrounding area was covered in snow. I was able to hike a little, but my running shoes did not provide much traction, so I gave up after a short while. Additionally, mist was settling on that area in the late afternoon, as you can see in the final photo.
On the drive up the mountain, there were lots of places to pull off the road to get a closer look at the scenery. I was particularly impressed by several beautiful waterfalls, including the one in the second photo.
I alternated between shooting with my iPhone 11 and my Canon SL2 and took a pretty good number of shots. I am still going through my images, but thought it would be good to provide a preview of the types of images that I was attempting to capture. I am pretty sure that I will feature more photos of this beautiful location in some future posts.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I love that waterfall framed by the stone bridge! 💞
Thanks, Anne Marie. I was really happy with the way that the image of the waterfall turned out–just as I imagined when I took the shot.
You aced it!
Wow what a contrast to your usual haunts Mike. Lovely.
I’m sure the National Park must be great, also in winter. I like the last shot the most (from a photographic point of view).
Thanks, Rudi. The first two shots are more of the tourist shots, while the last shot was much more of an artistic, creative effort to capture a mood.
One of the things I remember most about visiting the Pacific Northwest are the waterfalls. Mount Rainier National Park has at least 150.
Great shots, Mike! I’m happy to see that you are taking full advantage of your time in WA. I believe the Canon SL2 is your travel camera, correct? Are you happy with the zoom and other features? I love my T7i with the Tamron 18-400 lens, but sometimes a lighter camera is just easier.
Carol H
Thanks. My SL2 is my travel camera. It is a tiny full-fledged DSLR that uses all my Canon lenses. Because I am looking to minimize the size of my kit, my longest lens is a 55-250mm lens. I am also carrying an 18-55mm, 24mm, and a 10-18mm lens. I used this gear a couple of years ago on a trip to Paris and it worked out well. Normally I want more reach for wildlife shots, but have found that when I am traveling, I tend to shoot more landscape than wildlife shots.
Very nice images Mike! Looks like you are having a Great Time in Washington State! Many times I use my iPhone 11 Pro for multi-image landscapes & wide shots and use my camera for detail or wildlife & birds. Also I use my iPhone set to capture images as jpegs instead of HEIC Raw files. Saves room on the iPhone and it seems to work better than using the HEIC raw format files. You can also set Photoshop to open jpegs as RAW files to get & pull more detail out of the iPhone files. Works quite well! Keep the images coming! Enjoy seeing them!
Strong images, Mike
Wow! Beautiful, Mike! Thank you for sharing.
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Beautiful shots, and time of year. If you want to shoot waterfalls you couldn’t be in a better place. Look forward to the photos. Living winter through your camera, while keeping warm.
Thanks for bring back memories, Mike. I lived in Seattle 1978-81. I’ve been back since but I never get tired of seeing photos.
Beautiful country!
Love the misty shot.
These are absolutely stunning images. My favorite is the last one: beautiful and mysterious.
Thanks, Nina. I felt a bit like I was taking tourist-type shots with some of the images, but the last one was the one where I had an artistic vision of capturing the moment and felt like I was pretty successful in doing so.
Beautiful, Mike! The waterfall and stone bridge is very nice and I agree with others, your last image in the mist is lovely.
Such a gorgeous area. The pine trees in the midst look like a Christmas card!
The mountains and fir trees really bring to mind the traditional scenes of Christmas. In Virginia, where I live, we usually don’t have lots of snow and the coniferous trees seem few and far between. My misty trees might make a good Christmas card, but it might be a little too gloomy for some. I like the idea that there is always a bit of mystery surrounding Christmas and the entire amazing Christmas story.
Beautiful, Mike. That waterfall image is especially nice, but so is the one of the trees in the mist!