When I arrived in Washington State I had in mind that I’d be able to capture some photos of Mt Rainier. I had done so on a crystal clear day a couple of years earlier and it never occurred to me that I had been subject to extreme good luck when I took it. I faced grim reality on this visit. The fact is Mountains in WA are rarely visible. Too much rain. Too many clouds. Aberrant, unpredictable weather patterns. You name it. When I brought this up to a WA native she simply said “What mountains?”; So, no Rainier, no Olympus, no Cascades, and no Mt St Helens. I had in mind to visit Hood River, OR when I headed south and by now was pretty sure there would also be no Mt Hood.

And for the time I was in Hood River that was the case. This was temporarily offset somewhat by the utterly striking surrounds provided by the Columbia River Gorge and places along the river like Multnomah Falls. But as I headed south again, this time on my way to Bend, I came round a curve and what you see here is what I saw. It just popped right up in front of me. I literally slammed on the brakes, hopped out camera in hand, and began shooting. I was taking no chances it too might disappear.

Not the greatest shot you’ll ever see of Mt Hood but a lot better than the ones I didn’t get in WA.