If you've been following along with contributing photographer Rebecca Latson's Armchair Photography Guide of Mount Rainier National Park, then you'll have read Parts 1 through 3, which took you through a photo odyssey of Mount Rainier National Park via Sunrise (Part 1), then along the route to Paradise including Stevens Canyon Road (Part 2), and within the Paradise area, itself (Part 3). This final Part 4 will lead you down the road from Paradise to Longmire and on toward the park’s Nisqually entrance for the culmination of a photographic jaunt filled with locations, camera tips, gear advice, and techniques to help you capture your own images without having to expend a great amount of energy for those of you who aren't able to or don't wish to venture too far into the backcountry.

Riots of blooming wildflowers are one of the joys of visiting national parks, but climate change is tinkering with the schedule of some of those flowers. At Mount Rainier National Park, for instance, all wildflower species are blooming earlier than in the past, roughly half have extended their season, and a little less than half shortened theirs, according to research conducted by University of Washington personnel.

It started in mid-September; a few flakes began to flutter across the Crown of the Continent in Glacier National Park. The snow since then has slowly spread east and west, north and south. By January the white mantle likely will cover the whole northern tier of the National Park System, from Acadia west to Olympic, south through Rocky Mountain, into Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountain national parks.