Sunrise and Moonset
from Eliot East Moraine
Leaving town around 3AM, I headed up to the slow going Cloud Cap road, driving through the open landscape of the burned forest just as deep colors were starting to fill the sky in the east. The moon was glowing vibrantly over the mountain, resulting in a stunning level of detail observable in the last moments of night.
I arrived at Cloud Cap Saddle Campground, and headed up north, taking the trail up onto the Eliot East Moraine, the vast triangle of gravel and glacier deposits left behind by the Eliot Glacier as it retreated up the mountain. Shortly after arriving I was treated to the sun rising above the horizon to the east behind me, and the moon settling down behind the mountain ahead of me.
morning sun on the glacier
I continued along the moraine, before cutting up to Copper Spur and following the trail up to Tie in rock and then beyond to the edge of Newton Clark Glacier above 9000ft elevation from here the Eliot Glacier is a massive expanse of ice, crevasses many stories high cutting through the ancient ice, a complex and beautiful set of textures and colors on display.
looking down over Eliot Glacier sandwiched between its moraines
Newton Clark center and left, Eliot Glacier to the Right
