What an amazing adventure this was! For Stephanie and Greg’s adventure engagement session, we drove through miles and miles of dusty gravel road, met up near the trailhead and proceeded to hike 3.5 miles for some absolutely gorgeous views of Mount Rainier, stopping at a pristine mountain lake along the way. Oh yeah, and we saw a bear… twice… And I should probably also mention that the mosquitos will literally eat you alive up there. These must be some kind of super mutant mosquitos because bug spray did little to no good at all. Once we got on the trail, if you stopped for more than about 5 seconds, they would be on you, with steady streams of reinforcements seeming to materialize out of thin air… Honestly, I’ve never experienced anything like it. But we persevered and once we saw the views, we knew it had been worth it! Stephanie actually made the trek to Seattle from Arizona and Greg drove up from a work assignment in Oregon, so I was hoping and praying for some nice weather for us since we didn’t really have the opportunity to reschedule. And wow was it ever a beautiful day!
We saw quite a few people on our way up, no doubt enjoying the warm day. And even saw a bear just before we reached the lake. Emerging from the trail were lush meadows still covered with numerous wildflowers, absolutely gorgeous subalpine fir and mountain hemlock trees, and a beautiful pristine lake with crystal clear waters. It was truly a garden of Eden kind of place. But with the snow only very recently melting away at this elevation, it was essentially spring-like conditions up there and that means tons of mosquitos! After a while, we decided to head up to the fire lookout, thinking that perhaps if we just got away from the water, there would be fewer mosquitos, but alas, that was not the case! Nevertheless, the views were absolutely gorgeous up there and Stephanie and Greg looked absolutely amazing! I loved her light red dress – it really popped against all of the green up there! We braved the mosquitos all the way through sunset to get some beautiful images with Mount Rainier in the background and explore the area around the lookout. With the arrival of dusk, we began our descent and even got to see the yellow eyes of our furry bear friend on the way back down reflected in our headlamps across a meadow!
Thank you Stephanie and Greg for the absolutely amazing session! I had a great time spending the afternoon with you both and capturing these (and many more) beautiful images! Enjoy the sneak peek and I can’t wait to photograph your wedding next year!
The peak with the most prominence in all of the lower 48 states, Mount Rainier will take your breath away! It literally just towers over everything around it!
Almost 6000 feet above sea level and near the tree line gives you some pretty spectacular views in the Cascades!
I mean, seriously, these trees!!! So beyond beautiful! And even some cedar in there as well!
We saw some frogs in a little snowmelt pond and I loved how camouflaged they were! Come on little frog, eat those mosquitos already!!!
Seriously, is this place for real?
