I have been fascinated with Mount Saint Helen's since it blew in 1980, I was 8. We were living in Houston TX and there was a thin layer of ash on our van.
She was the first place I visited in the PNW. Since moving here I've climbed her three times, but tonight I was going to shoot her... with the Milky Way as the background. I gathered a few like minded friends and headed out.
Part of the process of making the shot is finding where the Milky Way lines up with the volcano. We were greeted with an amazing sunset as we walked down the trail on the opposite side.
We stopped from time to time to check our progress. Once we found where the Milky Way lined up, we set up camp.
You can barely see the Milky Way here, a few clouds, and light pollution from Portland.
Below is one from that spot.
The Milky Way started to drift so we set off to have a little fun.
And
As 3:00 a.m. approached we started to get a little tired. Sunrise during the summer in the PNW starts really early, and I wanted to shots from that soft morning light so we headed back to the cars for some rest.
We were too tired to set up tents so we crashed in our vehicles.
The next morning most every one got up early in order to scout good sunrise locations. Expect me. I was really tired. I opened one eye and could see that it would be a cloudless morning, not idea for sunrise shots. So I rolled over and slept a few more minutes.
Finally, I willed myself up and made it to Mt Saint Helen's observatory, which was only a 100 years a way. I didn't have much time to scout a good composition, but I did see an interesting log and set up around that.
There was a nice red hue on the Volcano as first light hit the rim. Watch this video to see what it was like there.
I did manage to pull off an epic sunrise shot for how little time I invested in scouting. I'd say I was truly lucky to pull it off.
Here it is below.
Soon after the light became harsh and that ended our photography trip. It was definitely a good trip.