49.8

Safe to say the wildflowers at Paradise are alive and kicking--- in fact the best they’ve been for the past several years. The lupine and paintbrush were peaking at the same time. Throw in some asters and pasque flowers and the meadows were booming! With such great conditions it seemed like the entire photographic world was descending on the place. I headed up with Alex Noriega and Jeremy Cram. A few quick text messages brought Alex Mody, Ron Coscorrosa, and Sarah Marino out of the woodwork. Then the floodgates opened as David Thompson, Ryan Dyar, Miles Morgan, and Mike Charmin rolled in. It was a motley crew heading up the trail in the pitch black pleading with the skies to cooperate. For the two days I was there we had crap for weather with the mountain continually wrapped in clouds and fog. Finally on the last morning we had a 90 minute window of veiled views toward Rainier and the Tatoosh. Even though the weather was a bit unruly it was more then made up for by hanging out with such great guys and gal. When I wasn’t bitching at the weather tears were rolling down my face from laughing my ass off!