In July of 2011 I bicycled the Spirit Lake Highway, the road that enters Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument from the west, for the first time with several friends. As I rode, I kept an eye on how the flowers were doing, and they were doing very well! I stopped several times to scout possible photo compositions. (My stops had nothing to do with the screaming in my legs from all the climbing, of course.) I was especially impressed with the flowers at the Loowit Viewpoint, located just before the road ends at the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

Later that same week, having Friday morning off, I ran up to Mt. St. Helens after work Thursday evening. I hung around the Loowit Viewpoint for a couple hours, but the mountain was continually obscured by clouds. I spent the night at a nearby campground and went back Friday morning about 45 minutes before dawn, but the mountain was again obscured by clouds.

When I'm all set up for a photograph and the hoped for light show doesn't happen, I'm often conflicted. On the one had, I'm always disappointed at missing the shot. On the other hand, I get to sit back and enjoy the zen of the moment. (When I'm photographing, I'm consumed by the effort and don't get to experience the beauty of the world around me as much as when I'm not photographing.)

On this morning, I sat in the trail by my tripod and enjoyed the dawn. After an hour of enjoying the morning, but discouraged that I'd only seen snippets of the mountain, I thought about heading home. I didn't have to be to work until 2 pm though, so I decided to hang around and listen to a book on tape in the car for awhile. I left my tripod in place just in case, and about 40 minutes after sunrise the clouds opened up and I was able to photograph this scene!