Plane & Pilot Photo Of The Week: Reflecting On Mount Rainier

Approaching the end of a year that has been a tough one for so many people in so many ways, it's comforting to know that the natural world in its power and beauty has been there long before all of this, is still there and will be there long afterward. Well, as an active stratovolcano, that last part is open to revision, and seismologists constantly monitor the Mountain's activities, which last erupted in 1894 and 1895, though it was not as great an eruption as that of Cascade neighbor Mount St. Helens, which erupted in devastating fashion in 1980, claiming 57 lives and causing a billion dollars in damage. The last major eruption of Mount Rainier was more than 2,000 years ago. A similarly sized eruption of Mount Rainier would be many times more devastating, geologists say, because of its greater size and number of glaciers (26 major ones), along, of course, with Mount Rainier's proximity to Seattle.

But for now, it's just beautiful, and it looks (knock on wood) like this will be one bullet that 2020 will dodge.

And thanks for sharing this gorgeous shot with us, Aoran!