Photos

The terrain in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State beteen Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams.

Northwest natives told early explorers about a fiery mountain which they called "Louwala-Clough" which meant "smoking mountain". Louwala-Clough (Mt. St. Helens off frame) was once a beautiful maiden "Loowit". When two sons of the Great Spirit "Sahale" fell in love with her, she could not choose between them. Two braves, "Wyeast" and "Klickitat", fought over her, burying forests in the process. Sahale was furious. He smote the three lovers and erected a mountain peak where each fell. Because Loowit was beautiful, her mountain was a beautiful symmetrical cone of dazzling white. "Klickitat" (Mt. Adams pictured here) wept to see the beautiful maiden wrapped in snow (Mt. St. Helens before eruption), so he bent his head as he gazed on her. - Source: US Dept. of Agriculture, Gifford Pinchot Nat'l Forest Mt. St. Helens Brochure (abridged), 1980.

Geologists say that in the past million years, numerous volcanic vents were active throughout south-central Washington (the terrain shown). These vents usually did not erupt more than once. Rather, each erupting vent built a separate, small volcano. Over time a field of numerous overlapping volcanoes was created.

Image taken with a Nikon D40x DSLR on a tripod early afternoon in October. Digital, converted to black and white.

o Exposure: 1/200th second.
o Apeture: f/7.1.
o Sensitivity: ISO 100.
o Filter: Quantary Digital Circular Polarizer 67mm.
o Focal length: 18mm.
o Lens: Nikkor 18-135mm AF-S F3.5-4.5 G ED DX zoom.