We were hiking up an extremely steep trail through the Alpine Lakes Wilderness high in Washington's Cascade Mountains. Our goal was to camp in the Rampart Lakes Basin and the explore the high country in that vicinity. This was my first hike of the year and I was wondering out loud if I was getting too old to carry so much camera gear on a backpacking trip.

When we came to a waterfall and a shallow pool at its base, we decided to take a well-earned rest break. I photographed the sparkling water plunging off the cliff, then turned my camera on the stones lining the bottom of the pool. The stones were so bright and colorful in the clear mountain stream that I knew the scene would make a fine picture. The challenge was to catch the sun ripples on the surface of the water "just right"—so that they appeared almost as a net overlaying the stones. This was my favorite picture from the series.

Lee Rentz

lee@leerentz.com