For my last night in Oregon before heading back (see the trip out here) I wanted to photograph the Milky Way over Crater Lake. However during the sunset a low layer of smoke from nearby forest fires started to flow into the lake obscuring the stars from my planned location. As I drove around the lake upset at the smoke ruining my night sky, I literally saw it in a different light...as it layered the sky over Mount Thielsen in ribbons of color. I quickly found a parking spot and ran back up the road to catch the last of the fading light in the smoke.
Mount Thielsen
I nearly gave up on photographing the stars but noticed some of the higher peaks around Crater Lake were above the smoke. So I grabbed my headlamp and hiked to the top of the Watchman peak and was rewarded with a moody image of the lake filled with smoke. I took a second photo of the Milky Way to create the image I had envisioned of Crater Lake with the Milky Way above it.
Milky Way over Crater Lake
On my last day I had a midnight red-eye flight home from Portland which allowed me plenty of time to photograph several waterfalls before going to the airport. Fortunately the Columbia River Gorge has several of them within an hour of the airport so I had plenty to keep me busy until it was time to go. However before I arrived at the gorge I started with Salt Creek Falls on the Middle Fork Willamette River. It is the second highest plunge waterfall in Oregon after Multnomah Falls which would be my final stop before going home.
