Cabin and Flowers

I had been wanting to head to Mt Rainier's Indian Henry's Hunting ground for several year - ever since I had passed through on my trek along the Wonderland Trail and then later saw the amazing meadows and wildflower display. When I had hiked through, the meadows were still under at least a foot of snow.

No flowers. No meadows. Lots a flies in the outhouse but that's a different story.

That 1st trip, my hiking partner & I sat on the deck of the Patrol Cabin not knowing it's history (it is the 1st such cabin to have been built in the park). We admired the view of the mountain rising from the cabin's "back yard", imagined the flowers that would appear later that summer.

Nothing would prepare me for the wildflower images I would see after the hike. Those images inspired me to plan another hike to this wonderland.

When a buddy of mine expressed a desire to be at Indian Henry's for the wildflowers and shoot star trails over the mountain, it gave me the perfect reason to head back up.

We opted to camp at a cross country zone behind the cabin and Mirror Lakes so we'd be close to the area we wanted to photograph, thinking that Devil's Dream Camp was too far from the meadow. Just remember that the hike to the cross country zone was heinous - trail was unmaintained and at points dangerous in the dark.

We set up camp and decided to stay put through sunset and stars. Too tired to explore.

The better time to photograph the historic cabin and the meadows would have been in the afternoon on the way in. The sun would have lit up the cabin set back in the trees and I really wanted to get that image.

On the way out, I stopped to take the shot I had missed on the way in even though I knew the lighting just wasn't what I wanted. The cabin hid from the scene in the shadows of the tree. I started planning on the hike out which Photoshop actions I would use to make the image something reminiscent of the history the cabin has experienced.