The Ohanapecosh River is named after a Taidnapam Indian settlement along the river on the southeast corner of Mount Rainier National Park. It has been translated as "standing at the edge-place," though it may also mean "clear stream" in their language, which would accurately describe this crystal-clear spring-fed river.

Here, the river meanders through Cedar Flats around an island of old-growth trees called the Patriarch's Grove. At midday, river stones – a colorful mix of volcanic basalt, sandstones, and siltstones – catch the sunlight, refracted by ripples on the river surface.

These stones arrived at this flat stretch of the river after tumbling, shaping, and being smoothed as they traveled through the river's steeper and more rugged course in the higher reaches of the mountainous terrain. The sun's angle, threads of woven light from the submerged stones, and the irregular surface of the stream distort and animate the shapes of the rocks.