Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Ground

Watchman’s Peak trail, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

A Word A Week Challenge: DAWN

I have only photographed dawn, or sunrise, twice that I actually woke up for. I usually just stay up.

The first photograph was taken at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. As a little girl my uncle taught me about many of the national parks and Crater Lake was our favorite. Not only was I fulfilling a lifelong dream but honoring the memory of a man who had meant so much to me. We drove into the park well after midnight and followed the road until we found a parking lot. There were no lights, no moon; we couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of us. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to find Wizard Island; I was hoping to take a photo of it at sunrise. I set my alarm to 4:00am and after hitting snooze a few times I finally rolled out of the car and turned around to see where we were. What did I see? We were only feet from the lake and the parking lot overlooked my beautiful Wizard Island.

I hiked hundreds of feet to the top of Watchman’s Peak just in time to capture the sun rising over the lake.

The second photograph was taken at Summit Lake State Park, Indiana. I thought I would be sick getting up so early, but I did it. I got out of bed in time to get many beautiful shots. This photograph was taken in 2008 and was the last time I got up before the sun. I don’t expect it will happen again too soon.

Check out this and other challenges at A Word in Your Ear

Wizard’s Rising

Sunrise over Wizard Island, Crater Lake National Park