Three Fingered Jack Sunrise

An explosion of wildflowers in Canyon Creek Meadow, Mt Jefferson Wilderness

The hike to Canyon Creek Meadows at the base of Oregon’s Three Fingered Jack is one of my favorites in all of Oregon. The hike isn’t especially difficult and the rewards are many. Three Fingered Jack towers above the meadows which allows hikers to enjoy the intricate patterns of the mountain’s colorful volcanic striations. Because this face of the mountain face almost due east, it gets excellent, warms sunrise light. During ideal years, the wildflowers in Canyon Creek Meadows are absolutely epic. For at least the last 25 years, there has been a healthy lupine population in the meadow and more recently, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of pink Monkeyflowers and yellow arnica which add some colorful complexity to the scene. For several years I’ve wanted to capture a colorful wildflower foreground in the meadow and this Three Fingered Jack sunrise was excactly what I had in mind!

Canyon Creek Meadow lupines

I had scouted this location multiple times in the previous two weeks and knew that this morning, shouldn’t be windy and the wildflower meadows would be at the peak of color. I didn’t have an overnight permit for camping at Canyon Creek Meadow but I did have a day use permit, so I got up hours before sunrise and hiked into the meadow via headlamp. Conditions were excellent to capture the image I had visualized for  the last few years. Sunrise colors exceeded my expectations. Skies were clear overhead but there must have been a light haze along the horizon to the east which filtered out the colder blue tones, leaving this sunrise with stunning tones of Orange and red. I was thrilled! The fine art landscape photographs of this beautiful new image are filled with detail, color and texture. Large metal prints of this image are especially stunning. Please use the drop down menus below and to the right to select a print size and a print surface to see the price for the combination you selected. Purchasing can be completed by adding your selection to your shopping cart and paying with a credit card.