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| From Mt. Rainier |
You can see Rainier from almost anywhere here, except the house where we live: we have some tall trees right at the east end of our yard.
Rainier is about 30 or 50 miles from our house, so we decided to head on out and take a look. We didn't actually anticipate getting there, but we figured we'd head out to explore in that direction and take a look around.
There are some interesting things between us and Rainier: Alder Dam was impressive
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| From Mt. Rainier |
We wound through several small towns and finally got to Mt. Rainier National Forest. A day pass is $15, a 12-month pass is $30. So we bought a year pass.
We never actually got to Rainier, which wasn't really a surprise. But we did manage to go for a walk in the foothills. The landscape definitely reminds me of home:
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| From Mt. Rainier |
The "lonely road at the base of the hill" look sure takes me back to BC.
There are a lot of mushrooms on the west coast, and I ended up tagging some in photos:
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| From Mt. Rainier |
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| From Mt. Rainier |
It was terribly refreshing to walk in the cold damp air. That's a winter-on-the-Pacific-coast thing. We might not get a lot of snow, but the winter damp cuts like a knife. I've been out in the cold (I mean real cold, not just freezing temperatures), and it has its challenges; but there is a unique coldness to the damp air on the coast. To be sure I've never wintered in Cambridge Bay, but you get the point. Most places get dry in the winter: our winter humidity presents a unique cold.
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| From Mt. Rainier |
Anyhow, we spent some time walking on a path that followed a creek up a foothill
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| From Mt. Rainier |
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| From Mt. Rainier |
The creekbed itself is bright orange, I assume that's clay washing down from deposits upstream, but I don't know for sure.
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| From Mt. Rainier |
There were some really interesting branches along the path: trees apparently had some unique challenges in that forest:
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| From Mt. Rainier |
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| From Mt. Rainier |
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| From Mt. Rainier |
We even found a hollow tree.
It wasn't an epic journey or anything, but it was certainly a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
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| From Mt. Rainier |
6 comments:
Lovely. I really enjoy the photos.
Lovely. I really enjoy the photos.
Ah, yes, the great Northwest. I've not been as many places as you, though I've traveled a lot, and I've yet to find another part of the country that is as breath-takingly beautiful as it is here.
It is something particular to this part of the Northwest. If you head south of your location, Mt. St. Helen's becomes the definer of the landscape. Further yet, Mt. Hood. Keep going, it becomes Mt. Jefferson. Further down, Mt. Bachelor. Finally, you meet majestic Mt. Shasta. It's great to be on the outer edge of the Ring of Fire.
The autumn/winter here is spectacular. The colors you see around you this time of year is arresting. It's one of the things that still makes me so proud to be from here.
I like those 'dominant' volcanoes. We can see Mt Baker from the island - Victoria and the ferry.
Gotta do that again.
Wow, beautiful. Great photo of you, btw.
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