Seeking: Volcano Viewpoints

[ChromaKey]

The other tricky bit of this will be timing. Like, I'd love to capture each of them with a fresh coat of snow (I personally find the melty-summer snow to be an eyesore) and either at dusk/dawn or with light clouds, no direct sunlight. (I'm hoping for a lenticular cloud over one of them, likely Shasta). But being the PNW, the window for such shots is so narrow. I'd usually have a few weeks now but with the pandemic and all it's impossible, then another few weeks in October-ish. This might be a multi-year project.

[drm]

It's unclear to me if you're hoping to get to these places with a minimum of hiking.

Your coordinate for Mt Adams appears to be in Yakama territory. The Bumper would be great, but is closer than 6 miles, maybe 4. There is a large meadow on the Stagman Ridge trail about 3 miles hike in that looks closer to 6 miles west. Crofton Butte appears to be almost exactly 6 miles south. I've never actually been there, but it is just above the Crofton Butte trail.

For Rainier, if Sunrise is around 6 miles away, there will be plenty of options, like Sourdough Ridge.

[ChromaKey]

I have no issue hiking/backpacking/overnighting for a view (even going off trail a bit)... The things I would like to avoid are outright trespassing and excessive bodily risk.

[kepPNW]

Your coordinate for Mt Adams appears to be in Yakama territory. The Bumper would be great, but is closer than 6 miles, maybe 4.

Extreme wide-angle (360°) from The Bumper to offer an idea...

[ChromaKey]

Oh, that looks perfect! I was worried about there being trees in the way but that looks great!

[kepPNW]

Oh, that looks perfect! I was worried about there being trees in the way but that looks great!

Off-trail and pretty well above the timberline. Click the photo, then go back/forth to see other shots in the same vicinity. The extreme wide-angle on that does "push" the mountain a lot further away than it may appear.

[adamschneider]

Sisters: This is obviously going to be one of the more tricky ones I can already tell. I like the view from FR2649, especially with Linton Lake in the foreground, but if Google Earth is anything to go off of, it's pretty heavily forested and I'm not sure if there's a clearing.

The coordinates I mentioned (44.1843,-121.9192) appear to show sort of a dirt cul-de-sac at the end of a little "driveway" off FR 2649. I haven't been there myself, but it LOOKS like there's a clear view to the east, at least until those shrubs on the hillside grow taller.

[leiavoia]

Three-Finger Jack makes decent appearance, but its best from right up close, not 6 miles away.

I know you are focusing on cascade volcanoes, but if that starts to get samey, then there is a different breed of mountain out east, every bit as worthy of your attention: Wallowas, 7 Devils, Steens, etc.

[ChromaKey]

...there is a different breed of mountain out east, every bit as worthy of your attention: Wallowas, 7 Devils, Steens, etc.

That actually sounds like an awesome idea. "Cascade Volcanoes" was an initial, arbitrary, somewhat achievable target anyways. I've always wanted to make it down to Steens, especially when it's dusted in snow. And holy crap is Eagle Cap beautiful. How have I not heard of that before?

[adamschneider]

I've always wanted to make it down to Steens, especially when it's dusted in snow.

If you want anything around here "dusted" in snow, that's usually an October thing. Steens Mountain, like the volcanoes, will have huge bare patches and huge but shrinking snowfields as summer goes on.

As for photographing Steens, that'll be interesting. You'll never get the whole thing in one photo; it's a fifty-mile long ridge. More of a mountain range than a mountain. And it doesn't look like anything at all from the west. But parts of it are incredible, like Kiger Gorge: