glaciers

Historic Longmire Area of Mount Rainier

   I have been catching up on editing some older images I made in 2010 at Mount Rainier National Park. Below are two images of historic buildings in the Longmire Historic District. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ve been to Longmire since I made these photos back in 2010. I tend to enter the park from the Stevens Canyon entrance now due to its proximity to Tipsoo Lake, Sunrise and relatively quick access to the Paradise area. Sadly, Longmire gets left out most of the time now.

   This is the entrance to the historic Longmire Administration Building built in 1928.

the historic longmire administration building at longmire in mount rainier national park

Historic Longmire Administration Building

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   This is the Longmire Service Station which was built in 1927.

lower falls and gold creek with a flowering streambank arnica

Longmire Service Station

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   Between Longmire and Paradise lies a small loop road at Ricksecker Point. I have photographed many of the views from Ricksecker Point including this telephoto image of the peak of Mount Rainier itself. The glacier on the right hand side of this photo is the Kautz Glacier, which in part forms Kautz Creek many will be familiar with crossing if entering the park from the Nisqually entrance.

rocky snow and ice on the peak of mount rainier

Snow and Ice on the Peak of Mount Rainier

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You can find over 200 photographs from Mount Rainier in my Mount Rainier National Park Gallery.

Cowlitz Chimneys and the Sarvant Glaciers

The Cowlitz Chimneys and Sarvant Glaciers at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State, USA.

cowlitz chimneys and the sarvant glaciers in mount rainier national park

Cowlitz Chimneys and the Sarvant Glaciers in Mount Rainier National Park

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   I have most often viewed the Cowlitz Chimneys in Mount Rainier National Park from the eastern side of the park near Tipsoo Lake. I photographed this panorama of the Chimneys from the Sunrise area of the park along the Silver Forest Trail. The Cowlitz Chimneys are the remains of a rhyolite plug at Mount Rainier and the highest Chimney (South Chimney) has an elevation of 2318m (7605 ft). I had thought when I made this photograph that the patches of snow and ice below the chimneys were just that – the remaining snowfall from the previous winter. However, upon some research it seems that these are the Sarvant Glaciers and are “permanent”. From comparison photographs it seems these glaciers may have melted beyond their usual ebb and flow in recent years due to lower snowfall levels in the winter and warmer temperatures.

You can see more photographs from this area in my Mount Rainier National Park Gallery.

Mount Baker at Sunset

Last bit of sunset light on Mount Baker/Kulshan from Artist Point at the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington State, USA

mount baker artist point sunset glaciers

Sunset light on Mount Baker from Artist Point (Purchase)

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   It always seems that there are either too many clouds or none at all when I have an opportunity to photograph Mount Baker. So sometimes I ignore it in favour of Mount Shuksan or one of the other nearby mountains available at Artist Point in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. This time, however, I like the small accents of light that showed up on the side of the peak, which gives this photo a bit more interest for me than others I made at the same time.