Spending the night on Mt. Rainier will change the way you look at the nighttime sky forever. This photograph, taken in 1995, shows how the mountain glows as the sun sets, only to give way to the most spectacular show of stars you will ever see. The National Park lodge serves as the last semblance of civilization before heading up to the glacier base camp and eventually the peak. This area, known as “Paradise”, has an annual snowfall of 53 feet. I couldn’t think of a better name for it.
“This is how I think of Mount Rainier, not as an icon of permanence but as a source of relentless change, a mountain forever falling.” – Bruce Barcott