In a year with more typical weather, the meadows in the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park would look something like this photo around the first week of August, and the place would be swarming with photographers. This year, while much of the country suffers under sweltering heat, summer has barely arrived in the Pacific Northwest. The La Niña weather pattern brought us a long, cool and wet winter and spring, and lots of snow in the mountains. [read more ...]
Saturday, June 5, is National Trails Day, so let’s get out there and take a hike! This annual celebration of hiking and walking trails was started in 1993 by the American Hiking Society to help raise awareness of the benefits of, and needs for, getting outside and enjoying nature. If you want to hike with a group or participate in a trail maintenance project, many events are planned nationwide. Click on the map on this page to find what’s happening [read more ...]
My best wishes to all for a wonderful holiday season, and may 2010 bring you health, happiness, love and prosperity.
By several accounts, this year has been among the best in recent times for the wildflowers at Mount Rainier National Park. After hearing earlier this month that the flowers had peaked, I was afraid I wasn’t going to find much by the time I was able to get up there, but I was delighted to find that there are still several areas of lush meadows with lots of colorful flowers in their prime. The always-helpful National Park Rangers at the [read more ...]
They say that when a lenticular cloud appears on Mount Rainier rain will be arriving within 24 hours, and that’s exactly what happened last week. The first morning there I got this photo, and for the next several days it was nothing but fog and rain. The Mountain, as Washingtonians call it, didn’t show itself again, except for very brief fleeting glimpses, until yesterday morning. The soft light of fog was great for close-ups of wildflowers, however, and the meadows [read more ...]
Went up to Washington last week to visit Mount Rainier National Park to get some stock photos of The Mountain in winter and do some snowshoeing in the Paradise area. The beautiful meadows that are covered with wildflowers in August are now buried under several feet of snow. The photo here is the view from Longmire at sunrise. In summer the sun is far enough to the north that the mountain is mostly backlit at dawn and dusk when viewed [read more ...]