Sunrise/Sunset location in Crater Lake and North Cascade?

[kevin_qu]

Hi there,

 

We are planning a trip to Crater Lake, Rainer, Olympic and North Cascade. I

have a reasonable good idea about Rainer and Olympic from guide books, but find

little info about Crater Lake and North Cascade.

 

Could you please recommend sunrise/sunset locations for Crater Lake and North

Cascade?

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin

[david_henderson]

Can't help for north Cascade. Of course you will realise that the position of dawn/sunset along the rim of Crater Lake varies with time of year? And therefore that the best places to photograph will also vary a little?

 

In my view the best "sunrise" pictures of Crater Lake are from the viewpoints on the west side of the lake, just north of the Watchman, looking directly over Wizard Island, and are made before the sun rises over the Palisades to the east. Once you have direct light the photograph has gone. The main viewpoint here is large and pretty much unmissable but depending on time of year there are other/smaller ones to try. I try and check these things out the day before. From the same location and a little further north , near where the rim drive leaves the northern access road, there are other views along the Lake to catch early light on the slopes and features like Liao Rock.

 

If you are staying at the lodge on the rim( badly affected by refurbishment when I was there last in Sept. 05) they make a big thing of dawn on the balcony with chairs, blankets, coffee etc. Not the best photography but a great experience for any non photographers.

 

Sunset- well my best photographs have been from the pathway just west of Rim Village, looking NE, but its quite good from the dawn locations too with warmly lit cliffs behind a silhouetted Wizard Island.

 

Much of what you get will depend on the sky. A clear blue sky gives you the deepest blue water, but not necessarily the most interesting photographs. If I were you I'd be hoping for mixed, rapidly changing weather. Crater Lake is beautiful but it gets samey pretty fast if conditions don't vary.

[frank uhlig]

To the west and to the east, respectively, and so it is for every lake on planet Earth.

 

I do love these questions. No geography in school anymore?

 

And of course that west/east changes a bit with the seasons.

[sknowles]

I'm curious what your plans are for Mt. Rainier (NP?). There are lots of places for sunrise/

sunset photos of the mountain and in the NP. I'm working on a <a href="http://

www.wsrphoto.com/mtrainier.html">photo guide</a> to the NP (not the mountain or

outside the NP, just too much at this time and there are already tons of books and guides).

I'm open to suggestions, ideas, and people's experience for the photo guide.

 

As for the North Cascades, access is along Highway 20 through the NP in its own NRA, and

outside the NP along the Cascade River Road or Steheking Valley Road, and the lesser

roads adjacent to the NP in the NRA's surrounding the NP. There are no roads in the NP

itself, only trails, and there are many excellent trail guides in bookstores.

 

Good luck.

[mcgarity]

Scott what do the acronyms NP and NRA stand for? NP could mean National Park I suppose. But I can't even come up with a good guess for NRA.

[sknowles]

Sorry, NRA is National Recreation Area, which is a transistion zone between almost unlimited

development locally controlled, and National Park land. David Louter has an excellent history

of the Washington NP's, "Windshield Wilderness: Cars, roads and Nature in Washington's

National Parks."

[phyrpowr]

At Crater Lake, you can shoot the rising sun lighting the west rim and the island from the lodge on the south side, very easy to get to of course, plus coffee and rest rooms available

 

I, as usual, carried blue skies with me, and if there are no clouds, this is a boring rising/setting sun shot place

[kevin_qu]

David and Jack, thanks for your replies. I will check out sites near watchman and the lodge for Crater Lake.

 

Scott, my reference for Mt. Rainer is National Park Photography by Tim Fitzharris. He recommened a few sites such as Paradise Meadows, Reflection Lakes, Sunrise Viewpoint, etc.

[sknowles]

<p />In response to, "Scott, my reference for Mt. Rainer is National Park Photography by

Tim Fitzharris. He recommened a few sites such as Paradise Meadows, Reflection Lakes,

Sunrise Viewpoint, etc.", those are excellent places, easy road access, and lots of places to

photograph with short, easy hikes. I can only add if you're there before Labor Day, or even

maybe mid-late September, get there early. The parking at Paradise and Sunrise, along

with all the view/scenic waypoints, like Reflection lake, is limited and is closed when full,

often by mid-morning. And they don't allow parking outside designated areas (they're

serious and will require you to move on or be ticketed/towed). You can check the <a

href="http://www.nps.gov/mora/ ">NPS Website</a> for updated information.

 

<p />As for photo ops, Reflection lake is the hardest one as it's on the southeast side,

subject to the slightest wind. Thanks for the Tim Fitzharris reference, I'll look him up. I'm

working on the photo guide Website to be ready next year and I'm researching new

references now. There are a number of book focusing on <a href="http://

www.wsrphoto.com/mtphoto.html ">Mt. Rainier NP</a> with places you can also go if

you have the time.

 

<p />Good luck.

[ShunCheung]

The following image is among the best I have seen for sunrise at Crater Lake, but obviously it was shot in the winter:

http://www.photo.net/photo/4065475

 

The next image is mine. That was shot from a parking lot about a mile to the west of the lodge on the rim:

http://www.photo.net/photo/4533711

[kevin_qu]

Scott, thanks for information about parking. We plan to visit Mt. Rainer mid week, hopefully parking will be less a problem. Tim's book covers about 15 National parks. It is a very nice book to have for people that can only spend a few days per park.

 

Shun, great picture. Snow does add magic to it.