Perseverance

This is my sixth attempt at this place in a hope to get a perfect shot. Sometimes, I get there, but mountain is covered in clouds, sometimes it is too windy and I don't get the reflection, or even worse, it starts raining right before the sunrise .. (worst of all -- once I forgot my memory card at home and that was in winter freezing temperatures.)

Today, I did my part, memory card -- check, battery -- check, weather -- 50-50% chance. While driving towards this lake, I was looking at the sky and clouds building up right in front of me, and I was cursing myself..here we go again 80 miles of driving in the middle of the night is going to be a total disaster. But as I reached closer, I saw a moon setting and few stars in the sky and it turned out to be an amazing sunrise.

p.s. I did not plant this duck right in the foreground :). She just posed for me.

Crater Lake Sunrise Pano

Crater lake sunrise - first light

Mt Hood at Sunset from Larch Mountain

Paradise Park, Mt Hood via Paradise park trail

Official forest service webpage says that this trail is 13 miles round trip, but that is only to reach paradise park loop trail. In my opinion, best part of the hike is paradise park loop. Splitrock is the best stop for lunch. With the loop, this hike is 17 miles roundtrip with around 3000 ft elevation gain.

I took a trip to Grand Teton National Park in June, This picture is from that series. As the sun comes up above the horizon, this barn and the mountain range in the background gets the first light, which is truly amazing. This is my attempt to capture that moment.

Mirroring Sunrise !

Taken at Trillium lake in Oregon. I hoped for bit more clouds when I started driving at 3:30AM in the morning on a working day, instead I got an absolutely clear sky with no wind and perfect reflection in the lake. More than that, I had the entire lake to myself. Nice peaceful moments!