[/caption] The views along the Jefferson trail, which ultimately leads you to Jefferson Park and Russel Lake is one of the most scenic and beautiful areas found in the Oregon Cascades. Once you reach the alpine valley in Jefferson Park you will be met with dozens of small alpine ponds as well as some fantastic flowering vegetation that can only be found in the alpine wilderness of the Cascades. Because Mt. Jefferson is so remote, you will need to drive on a road that is less traveled and either gravel or dirt, so be prepared to get your car a little dirty. I took this photo while standing near one of the alpine ponds and Mt. Jefferson can be seen behind it. I wanted to get a shot with the trees in the photo along with the snow capped mountain and the pond. You can really see just how pristine and picturesque the setting is in Jefferson Park. Depending on the time of year you visit, you will be able to see dozens of alpine flowers dotting the park. Since I wanted to get the most panoramic photo as possible I used my Tokina 12-24mm wide angle lens and had the focal length at 15mm. I attached my CIR-PL and warming filter in order to reduce the sun glare and warm the natural tones. The sun was at about a 90 degree angle on the right but the glare was still pretty intense. I spent most of my time trying to find the best spots that weren’t overexposed due to the intense glare from the sun. I had the camera mode in Normal/Program so the aperture was at F-6.3 and the shutter speed at 1/99 second since I did have the ISO at 100 and the white balance at -0.3. I also made sure to use my tripod, bubble level and remote switch to avoid any camera shake or blur.