Mount Rainier, WA – 2004

Reading of the tragedy out in Washington, I sadly remember some of the places we visited when looking at houses around Bellingham.

There were many places where I made the comment to the Realtor that the way the houses were being built it looked like a good rain would have them slide down into each other. In some places the bottom floor was higher than the roof of the house below it. That would not be bad on it’s own, but they were also close, and even when we were there, there were rivulets running down the sides of the hills. Some places were obviously built on rock, but not all, and I wondered . . .

I don’t remember if we looked in the area of the mudslide . . . we looked all over the place, as we were there for two weeks for the specific purpose to see if we would like living in the area, so it could have been in that same area.

Anyway . . .

Another place we visited was Mount Rainier. The mountain is also a National Park.

Rainier is pronounced “ray-near” as opposed to “rain-ier”. To me the distinction seems both silly and unnecessary. They should have called it  Mount Pluvial to dispense with the confusion. And pluvial it was . . .

Our visit there coincided with the start of the second week in the area . . . the week it rained every single day. Constant, unending rain.

As we ascended, I hoped it would abate somewhat even as I liked the fact it added contrast to the landscape.

In playing around with onOne, I accidentally got this next look . . .

That’s the same photo, only now it looks as if it had snowed.

. . . but it had not . . . just rain.

With a name like Rainier, one expects waterfalls, and one is not disappointed. Here are two different shots processed slightly differently.

Eh, they look pretty close. I can tell a difference when switching one from the other, but here they are near-indistinguishable from each other.

Much like these next two shots . . .

These are variation on the “make it look like snow” process. This is what the original looks like:

Yeah, not as interesting as water falling . . . here’s a few more of that particular waterfall.

Do you recognize this next one?

This was showcased in one of the Untitled posts, cycling from color to B&W and back. People probably did not even notice the animation. I won’t repeat it here, but I will give a few more shots of the waterfall.

Much like for Mount Baker, the overcast sky both helped and hindered the photo-taking, and all the rain makes everything lush.

These next photos were all at one area, but they were by no means unique.

Past the bridge you get a view of the deep chasm and river running through the bottom of it. Also of the waterfall dropping from the cliff.

And, you get another view of the bridge that screams for a B&W treatment.

As we neared the top of the road, we began to see snow. It looks like it’s at our same elevation, but these scenes were a few hundred feet of elevation above where we were driving. And yes, snow always wants to be shown in B&W.

. . . and so, here it is in B&W.

The low-hanging clouds gave the scenery a surreal look.

The road went up and down a bit, even as if it was climbing.

The scenery offered up decent little sideshows.

But try as I might, I could not make that look good in black and white.

However, the views from the pass were suitable for treatment.

I usually try  to avoid adding people in my shots, but I could not get the surrounding views without including some people.

As we drove through the pass, we got one clear view of a glacier.

And one more view suitable for B&W.

As usual, one can go to the SmugMug Gallery HERE, but you can also click on the photos for larger views.

As we started heading back down, we saw more . . . that’s right, waterfalls. Here are two different treatments of one.

And here’s another one . . .

Notice the people up on the bridge . . . holding umbrellas. Well, so was I, along with a tripod, camera, and a couple of lenses. The rocks were rather slick, and I wondered if I was going to experience the equivalent of a water slide ride. Luckily, no such thing happened, and I did get my shots from below.

This next shot is the same as the one above, but with me playing around in Lightroom.

The next one is something called “anime” in onOne Suite.

I went down a bit more to get a different angle . . .

And then, since I had forgotten to do so, I snapped a few on my way back up.

I had to play with this one as well . . .

I think it’s an improvement, but who knows . . . some might not agree.

These next four shots were also showcased in the untitled posts (I won’t link them here).

I had a great opportunity, but opted to turn left.

This next one is a neat setting for a fall. The man on the bridge gives it a sense of scale.

I especially liked the little falls on the side . . .

Here is another view of it, and another closeup.

This next one was more of a run-off than an actual fall, but it looks good with the anime treatment.

As we neared the exit of the park, it occurred to me I should try to capture the impressive trees lining the road.

This next shot looks better treated with anime as well.

And before we knew it, we were at the exit. Since I had not snapped a photo of the entrance, I took one of the exit.

Even though some are a bit grainy, I would suggest looking at these in the SmugMug album, but those not wanting to bother, at least click on the photos you like to get a bigger view.

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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Astute persons might have noticed these doodles, and correctly surmised they hold some significance for me, and perhaps for humanity at large.

If you click on the doodle, and nothing happens, this is the link it’s supposed to go to: https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/palm-vx-and-i/.

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