Mount Rainier Reflection
This is a view taken from the shore of the larger of the two Reflection Lakes on Stevens Canyon Road in Washington State. There's nothing particular special about either lake, but for the opportunity to capture a reflection of Mount Rainier in their calm waters. As you can see, on the one opportunity I had, the waters weren't quite as calm as I would have liked!
Mount Rainier, however, is something special. At 4,392m it is the highest mountain in the Cascade Range of the Pacific North-West. It is also the most glaciated mountain in the lower 48 states with five major rivers being spawned from its flanks.
However, the most important modern aspect of Mount Rainier is the danger it poses to the surrounding area. It remains an active volcano and geological analysis of earlier eruptions shows that it produces massive lahars (often high-speed, often very hot, mudflows) that could, in particular, overwhelm the population centres to its north-west before evacuation could be safely completed.
As a consequence, the mountain has a number of seismic monitors on it. These have recorded days-long swarms of small earthquakes near the summit on four occasions already in this millennium... Lahar sirens, and marked escape routes, are in all of the population areas threatened by the potential mudflows, although there are apparently concerns that current funding levels are insufficient.
Of note, on 24 June 1947 Kenneth Arnold reported a formation of nine unidentified flying objects over Mount Rainier. His description led to the popularising of the term "flying saucers."
This image is scanned from a negative.
Mount Rainier Reflection
This is a view taken from the shore of the larger of the two Reflection Lakes on Stevens Canyon Road in Washington State. There's nothing particular special about either lake, but for the opportunity to capture a reflection of Mount Rainier in their calm waters. As you can see, on the one opportunity I had, the waters weren't quite as calm as I would have liked!
Mount Rainier, however, is something special. At 4,392m it is the highest mountain in the Cascade Range of the Pacific North-West. It is also the most glaciated mountain in the lower 48 states with five major rivers being spawned from its flanks.
However, the most important modern aspect of Mount Rainier is the danger it poses to the surrounding area. It remains an active volcano and geological analysis of earlier eruptions shows that it produces massive lahars (often high-speed, often very hot, mudflows) that could, in particular, overwhelm the population centres to its north-west before evacuation could be safely completed.
As a consequence, the mountain has a number of seismic monitors on it. These have recorded days-long swarms of small earthquakes near the summit on four occasions already in this millennium... Lahar sirens, and marked escape routes, are in all of the population areas threatened by the potential mudflows, although there are apparently concerns that current funding levels are insufficient.
Of note, on 24 June 1947 Kenneth Arnold reported a formation of nine unidentified flying objects over Mount Rainier. His description led to the popularising of the term "flying saucers."
This image is scanned from a negative.