Monday, September 6th The night before, I had set out with some friends to hike Fremont Lookout in hopes to shoot the milkyway over Rainier. The forecast wasn’t looking good, but I wanted to give it a shot. A few miles later, we found ourselves stuck in a cloud with no visibility. We stayed a few hours before reluctantly deciding to head back down. It was my friends last night at Rainier, so I knew if I wanted to capture this shot I had envisioned, I would have to summit again by myself. At 6:30pm on Monday, I set off once again for the steep hike up to Fremont Lookout. I arrived at the top just in time for sunset. The crowds dwindled down and only two other photographers remained on this chilly mountain top. I shot until the light left and I started setting up my shot for the evening. Hours of test shots, refocusing, and finding my perfect position later; the milkyway finally came out. I tracked it’s path and knew that the core would be highest just after 9:20pm, so I had a short window to capture it. I shot for about an hour, and was able to capture this image you are viewing now. The bonus is that there are 2 shooting stars in-frame! I had been dreaming of capturing this image for so long, and I am thankful I finally got the chance to do so.