This week’s adventure was an early Tipsoo Lake morning at Mount Rainier National Park. Mount Rainier is one of my favorite landscape photography spots and I get there at least once a year.

Tipsoo Lake on the east side of the park is one of the most frequented spots for Seattle area landscape photographers. This is partly because of how easy it is to get there. The lake is only about a 90-minute drive from Seattle and photographs like the ones in this post can be taken from the Highway 410 roadside without any hiking. A hike is however highly recommended for other great views and photos of Mount Rainier and its surrounding alpine scenery.

The closeup above of Mount Rainier was taken from the lake with a zoom lens at 120 mm. The photograph at the top of the post was taken zoomed out to 30 mm. So a standard zoom lens can get the job done. I would also recommend a split graduated ND filter for sunrise shots. I didn’t have mine with me on the trip and wish that I had. The split grad filter can balance out the light between the brightly lit mountain and darker foreground as the sun comes up.

This is also a great location for fall foliage. I will be heading back to Tipsoo Lake again in late September or early October when the leaves change color.