North Cascades Parting Shots

It is time for me to head down to Oregon before driving east to the Grand Tetons.  So, here are a few final shots of the North Cascades.

First, Mount St Helens.  It continues to emit gases.  (But then, so do I...)

 

(I know the camera looks like it is on an angle above, but it is not.  That is just the slope near St Helens.)

From the slopes of Mount St Helens, wildflowers overlook Mount Adams in the distance.

From my campground, I can see dusk casting its shadow in the crater of Mount St Helens.

A few statistics - Mt Rainier is a giant among giants.  It is 14,410 feet high.  Its slopes form a cone that is about 16 miles in diameter.  The surrounding rivers flow directly away from the peak until dropping to about 2000 feet elevation, the base land elevation.  The peak has a rise of more than 12,000 feet above that base land elevation, compared with 7,700 feet of rise for Pikes Peak. 

Wandering around Mount Rainier, I drove up the road to Sunrise, a viewpoint that I never saw at sunrise.  I did, however, get some spectacular views of the surrounding Cascades wilderness, some with Mount Adams in the distance.

(You will need to click on this one...) Even though I am at more than 6,000 feet, Mount Rainier in the distance rises another 8,000 feet above me.

South of the Rainier peak, Reflection Lake was too ruffled by breezes to provide much of a reflection.

On the way out of the Rainier area, one more view of Mount Adams was offered.