Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Camp Muir on Mount Rainier

Today (Wednesday, 8/29) I got a jump on the upcoming Labor Day weekend by climbing up to Mount Rainier's Camp Muir - and yes, it WAS a spectacular day.

Check out the pictures below and, if your computer can handle it, click on a picture to enjoy a full screen view.

Here is a classic late summer view of Mount Rainier, wildfolwers at the bottom and glaciers on top:

This picture, taken at about 9000 feet shows how far the Nisqually glacier has retreated:

The Nisqually drainage is always pretty photogenic as seen below:

I couldn't resist taking this next picture - it points east and was taken three moraine field bumps east and over from the Muir snowfield. Note: The Moraine field was completely dry.


Warning: the next two pictures are of cuddly-looking marmots. If you are not a fan of such wildlife, you may want to scroll down further to the crevasse shots. Make sure to look toward the edge of the grass: two marmots are standing up touching noses.

OK, here is the other marmot shot - unlike the picture above, he doesn't look like a rock: he is basking on top of a boulder.


Powerfull shot of a waterfall shooting off of a massive cliff and into the Nisqually glacier below.


Hey, I thought the Muir snowfield wasn't considered a glacier - the dry crevasse shown here indicates otherwise. I stayed wide of this area (except to take this picture) and tread on a small expanse of the "snowfield" for obvious reasons.


Oh, a little closer up (I know, it was too close) a portion of the crevasse looked like this:


Camp Muir - the buildings blend in with the rock:

Speaking of photogenic, that's me standing at Camp Muir with Mount Adams in the background. Like my new orange cap?