Mt. Rainier is getting is own stamp

To celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service, the U.S. Post Office will roll out a National Parks Forever Stamp series to be revealed over a three-week period.

Washington state’s own icon Mount Rainier will be featured.

The stamp image is the creation of Matt Dieterich of Pittsburgh, PA.

"This night was one I will never forget," said Dieterich, who worked at Mount Rainier as an intern with the National Park Service Geoscientist-in-the-Parks to educate the public on dramatic views of the stars and the effect of light pollution near highly populated areas. "After working with visitors at the Mount Rainier astronomy program on June 22, 2015, I noticed there was an aurora, so I drove down to Reflection Lake to capture it."

"The location was perfect as it contained a view of Mount Rainier and water for reflections," he continued. "To create this star trails image I took 200 photos in a two-hour window between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. with my Nikon D750 and 24mm lens set at F/1.4 and ISO 5000. Since the Earth is rotating, each 8-sec. exposure shows stars at slightly different locations. When the photos are combined into one image the stars create a circular pattern around the North Star, which is just out of view at the top of the image. The pink aurora spread throughout the background sky. Mountaineers can be seen with their white headlamps climbing Mount Rainier on the right side of the volcano."

Other National Parks Forever Stamps previewed to date include Acadia National Park, Arches National Park, Assateague Island National Seashore,Bandelier National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns National Park , Everglades National Park, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Grand Canyon National Park, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Haleakalā National Park, Kenilworth Park &Aquatic Gardens and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.

Cox Media Group