Vast fields of castilleja, aptly known as indian paintbrush or prairie fire, blanket the hillsides on Johnson Ridge. Their color is amazing at any time of the day, but at sunset they glow. The crater of Mt. St. Helens is more than five miles away.

Happy Saturated Saturday!

Tags:   Mt. St. Helens wild flowers indian paintbrush Sunset HSS Johnson Ridge

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Wilbur and I have been at Mt. St. Helens for the last couple nights attempting to shoot the Milky Way. I know many people have shot the Milky Way numerous times. But for me, this is an important milestone.

I struggled to get this shot. Clouds blew in and obscured the mountain for awhile, but fortunately they subsided. The worst part was that my lens attracted moisture and sticky residue so I spent much time attempting to clean it off. Meanwhile Wilbur who was standing right next to me had none of these problems with his lens. In addition, my camera just would not pick up detail in the mountain. I hate to say it, but Wilbur's Nikon did a much better job. It is probably operator error as my camera is supposed to be great for astrophotography.

In spite of the lack of sleep, I enjoyed the experience. I will keep trying to get a good image of the Milky Way.

Tags:   Mt. St. Helens Milky Way stars Night mountain clouds

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Five mile long Coldwater Lake was created by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens which blocked the outlet of Coldwater Creek with volcanic debris. The dock was lighted with truck parking lights. It took quite a bit of "sliding" to address color balance in this image. Not happy with the color balance but I got tired of working on it!

Happy Slider Sunday!

Tags:   Coldwater Lake dock Night stars HSS

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Wildflowers line the Hummocks Trail as it winds past pools created when chunks of Mt. St. Helens were blown off during the 1980 eruption.

Tags:   Mt. St. Helens Hummocks Trail path sun star wild flowers pond Trees Wilbur

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