Gimme the Power

Mt Rainier.. Is it deriving some power ?? or dissipating its own ??

a better view or proof...

This is some mountain along the Icefields parkway... now is that a live volcano .. I saw ??

The Rainier Cascades

The cascades of Mt Rainier are unique as most of them are found right next to the road or some of them are actually right below the wheels of your car. I am also planning a visit to the Northern Cascades National Park, but the scary part of the plan is that no water fall in that place seems to be accessible without a 3 mile hike through slippery rocks making it practically impossible to cover more than 2 of them over a weekend inspite of the park itself being home for more than 30 cascades.

Up here, we could easily stop over 5 of them as we drove up hill towards Paradise Point (Most popular view point on Mt Rainier). Most of them are not called with names .. or to be frank I do not know them ;) The first one is here:

The next was the most surprising one! As I drove through the road, we could hear a distinct sound of water gushing through some place.. looked all around.. simply could not find any water fall anywhere around.. surprisingly no tourists around too! After we drove about 1/2 a mile more... we found that we were actually driving above this fall :)

This is the cutest one .. about 20-25 ft... but really cute.. sorry about the poor clarity.. it was a desperate attempt to get the effect of a smooth surface of water in the pic .. with manual settings and slow shutter speeds.. this way i found out how shaky our hands are at the age of 25 ;) the next time I shoot this.. I'll have a tripod!

This is the most popular falls in Mt Rainier..called "NARADA" falls.. yes its an Indian name! Did u know it means "uncontaminated" or "pure" ? I felt embarrassed enough to find this out from a board in a remote corner of US ! Anyways.. unfortunately for us..the trail to Narada falls was closed due to a fresh landslide.. The best we could see was this

The best snap I could take without a tripod was of another cascade nearby:

Exploring the Mystic Peak

A view of Mt Rainier from SR7. A splendid 30 mile drive from here takes you through innumerable lakes, water falls, snow capped hillocks and an interesting gift shop (which I'll cover in another post). This view of the mountain behind the lush green meadows and the grazing cattle.... the moment I saw, I pulled my (actually Microsoft's) Chevy Cobalt over to the shoulder of the busy road, flashed the emergency lights and set out with my cam to take this pic.

A closer view of the peak.... still about 10 miles of driving left. There was actually a beautiful stream flowing below the trees (not in the pic) making it a much better view than seen here, but this is the best I could cover without getting myself squashed between the cars on road

There was a small stretch of the road where we couldn't get a glimpse of the peak. This is what we would see.. This one, I shot from the moving car, single handed, as I was driving ;)

And finally.. after a 2 hr drive, we are all set to enter the National park. The entrance reminds me of the entrance to Jurassic park

A Needle's Eye View

Spectacular view of Mt. Rainier in the background of
Seattle's Skyline from Space Needle.

The skyline, the turquoise waterfront and the majestic Mt Rainier, all add to the amazing view from 520 ft above the ground atop Space Needle. Could u believe that the mountain is 60 miles (96 kms) away ? !! The view was so awe-inspiring on this clear and bright day, that I spent about 3 hours here, having a coffee and enjoying the view. Was also waiting for it to get dark so that I could get some snaps of the lit skyline. Unfortunately, the sun was a good 20 degrees above the horizon at 8:00 pm when I waqs forced to return! The sun sets after 9:15 during the summer here.

To give u a better picture of where the space needle stands relative to downtown Seattle, its the distinct tall tower to the left in the pic below. This snap was taken during harbor cruise, which is an hours cruise around the Seattle harbor. I was told by the guide of the cruise that this kind of a clear view of Mt Rainier is available for about 5 days an year, when there is neither any haze over the peak nor any clouds in the sky. Until recently, Seattle had the dubious distinction of being the rainiest (wettest) city in the US. The rainiest city close to rainier mountain!!


The Space Needle was the second tower in the world to host a "revolving restaurant". Yes!!, it revolves to provide a 360 degree view of the city and the sea, as u have a romantic candle light dinner at a height of 520 ft. Wouldn't it make an amazing first date ??!! (just perfect... specially for a gal who wouldn't have to incur the brunt of the bill ;) ). The revolving restaurant is clearly visible in this one:



This would prolly be the first and the last post to feature steel/concrete structures. Lots of pics featuring nature at its best in the west .. to follow!