Home > Fine Art Prints >State/Region > Oregon > Three Sisters Wilderness, Oregon

This Fine Art Wilderness Photography image was captured on the morning of the summer solstice in 1988.  My brother, Patrick, and I started our climb to the summit of South Sister (located in Central Oregon's Cascade Mountain Range) at about noon, and our goal was to experience that evening's sunset and the following morning's sunrise from the summit of this 10,358 foot volcano.  We also had high expectations of getting some interesting shots of the surrounding Cascade Mountains from this high vantage point.  Carrying our camping gear along with all of my photography equipment made for a very long and tiring hike, and when we finally reached the summit about 6 PM, we barely had the energy to set up our camp. We then had a quick bite to eat and admired the incredible view as the sun began to set. We were blessed with a perfect evening, but we were unsure what to expect for night time temperatures at this high elevation. It turned out to be a very cold, but windless night, and we awoke early the following morning (4:30 AM) to find ourselves, our tent, and our sleeping bags encrusted in a thin film of ice from the condensation of our breath. As we ventured out of this icy setting, we could see just the faintest hint of red in the eastern sky, and knew we had better prepare ourselves for capturing that first glow of light as it touched the formation of volcanoes that were beginning to line up to the north of us. I knew that there would not be a lot of time to capture both the wonderful red, orange, and yellow hues of the predawn sky, and the first reflective rays of light on the mountains, but I was blessed to be able to capture both in this dramatic image.

• For those of you interested in the specific Cascade Mountains in this image, they are from foreground to background: Middle Sister, North Sister, Mt. Washington (the small pointed peak between Middle and North Sister), Mt. St. Helen's (just above Mt. Washington), Mt. Jefferson, Olallie Butte (you can just barely see Mt. Rainier’s summit behind it), Mt. Hood, and finally Mt. Adams.