It's 8:03 and the sun has just popped up over the Cascade mountains. The golden rays of light begin to warm the boulders of Rattlesnake Ledge under my feet. Below, still cold and icy, Rattlesnake Lake must wait another hour or so before the eastern edge begins to feel the warmth from those rays. 

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While I was taking shots of all the surrounding area, the sun decided to play peekaboo and surprise me. I had hoped to get a picture right before it showed its bright eye, but now it was too late. Anyway, it is still beautiful and very welcomed! Perhaps it will begin to warm up the fog and lift it? 

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Zooming all the way in this is a view toward the South West. Not surprisingly all the valleys over there are socked in too. Somewhere to the right of the tree top, my house is under that downy blanket; unfortunately not feeling as cozy as one would expect under a downy blanket. These gorgeous colors are bathing the sky right before the sun arrives to brighten things up. 

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The foggy blanket below reaches from north of North Bend, out of sight to the right, all the way to the Puget Sound far to the left. Every valley in this whole area is covered in this cold fog. Below the fog the ground is frosted and the grass is crunchy with ice. 

This is a 3-shot bracketed image processed in Photomatix and is showing a bit brighter than the light as seen by the eyes. The sun rise is about 15 minutes away.

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Zooming in as far as I can toward the North East shows the peaks in more detail and that interesting cloud spread across the sky above them. The I-90 hiway is visible below as it curves across the bottom of the frame. 

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Another view toward the North East from Rattlesnake Ledge. The land is still dark though the sky is begining to brighten. This is an underexposed shot to try to show the amount of light visible to the eye when I reached the Ledge. My camera and lens will show it much brighter if left to its own adjustments. 

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Looking North from Rattlesnake Ledge was especially beautiful. Fog was settled thick in the valley like a bridal train flowing around and behind Mount Si. Mount Baker is a small white dot in the distance. The flank of Rattlesnake Mountain is visible to the left. 

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This is the pre-sunrise view toward the North East from Rattlesnake Ledge. The fog that clothes the valleys is barely reaching up into this area from the left. In this edit I wanted to emphasize the fog's reach into the upper valley. The mountains ahead are part of the Cascade chain of mountains that traverse the entire length of Washington State. 

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This is the pre-sunrise view toward the North East from Rattlesnake Ledge. The fog that clothes the valleys is barely reaching up into this area from the left. The mountains ahead are part of the Cascade chain of mountains that traverse the entire length of Washington State. 

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The foggy blanket below reaches from north of North Bend, out of sight to the right, all the way to the Puget Sound far to the left. Every valley in this whole area is covered in this cold fog. Below the fog the ground is frosted and the grass is crunchy with ice.

This is a 3-shot bracketed image processed in Photomatix and is showing a bit brighter than the light as seen by the eyes. The sun rise is about 15 minutes away.

Follow me on bxfoto.com | twitter | Facebook | Flickr | 500px | Artist Web Sites
bxfoto.com | twitter | Facebook | Flickr | 500px | Artist Web Sites" href="javascript:openLB(2328908506,'',XLarge,'',1024,576);">The foggy blanket below reaches from north of North Bend, out of sight to the right, all the way to the Puget Sound far to the left. Every valley in this whole area is covered in this cold fog. Below the fog the ground is frosted and the grass is crunchy with ice. 

This is a 3-shot bracketed image processed in Photomatix and is showing a bit brighter than the light as seen by the eyes. The sun rise is about 15 minutes away.

Follow me on bxfoto.com | twitter | Facebook | Flickr | 500px | Artist Web Sites
The foggy blanket below reaches from north of North Bend, out of sight to the right, all the way to the Puget Sound far to the left. Every valley in this whole area is covered in this cold fog. Below the fog the ground is frosted and the grass is crunchy with ice.

This is a 3-shot bracketed image processed in Photomatix and is showing a bit brighter than the light as seen by the eyes. The sun rise is about 15 minutes away.

Follow me on bxfoto.com | twitter | Facebook | Flickr | 500px | Artist Web Sites
See photo in original gallery.