HER MAJESTY  -  Mount Rainier National Park, WA

This was a late-season trip to Mt Rainier for what was likely my last Milky Way photo opportunity of the season.

I arrived to smoky skies from local wildfires, and figured the night was lost.  "Well, sunset photos it is." But as the sun set, a perfectly-directed wind picked up, as if the universe had felt my despair. Suddenly I found myself beneath crystal-clear skies, sharing the approaching darkness only with a nearby herd of bugling elk. 

That night, the Milky Way rose beside the mountain in all her splendor—two timeless queens sharing the same stage for just a few precious hours.  It was impossible to tell which queen commanded the greater presence—the mountain rooted to the earth, or the river of stars slowly climbing above it. And did it matter?

I couldn't have imagined a more beautiful farewell to Milky Way season.