A late September day of joy...

I climbed up to Rachel, Rampart and Lila Lakes on a warm, sunny late September afternoon. I nearly had the whole place to myself and it was really hard to force myself to come home. Days like these are numbered! Snow levels, shorter days and colder temperatures are right around the corner, so I'm hanging on to the tail of the sun with both hands.




This is a a mormon cricket only a special variety with a latin name of Anabrus Cerciatus which is only found in the Cascades. It's hard to tell scale here, but he's about the size of a large paperclip.

Lila Lakes Basin Panorama

Spray Park, Knapsack Pass

Another warm day gave V and I the opportunity to get back to some of the places that are snowy 10 months of the year. This is the beautiful area of Knapsack Pass/ Seattle Park and Spray Park on Mt. Rainier's northwest corner. We saw two bears- one was on the hillside and just as I got my tripod set up- the bear got spooked by some people and took off. The shot here was seconds before it ran. Then, another bear scared the liver out of me when it crossed the trail 20 feet in front of us! I say it scared the liver out of me, because Vil calmly said "oh, there's a bear" just as it barreled across the trail. Captain Calm strikes again. Of course, it was not aggressive, it was just getting to where it was going- the berry patch! It was a great day full of wonderful sights.


The one near the bottom is smiling as the kid snoozes peacefully. This is the natural world that I simply love- the warmth of the day, the amazing beauty here and the creatures that live in this habitat. The goats were resting less than 1/4 mile from the bears and all was peaceful in the forest. Imagine a world....

Swallowtail butterfly on lousewort

Sick of Rainier pictures, yet?

A sunny and wonderfully warm September is turning out to be the cherry on the cupcake of the Rainier picture collection!

Our big boy...

Givin' a Hoot

Yesterday morning my eyes popped wide open at 6:32 am. I was oddly rested and ready to start the drizzly and damp morning. Realizing I had forgotten a grocery store run the day before, I decided to pile into the car and head down the hill to grab some milk. The day was breaking, but it was still quite dark. Suddenly, in front of my vehicle flew a very large and odd shaped bird. I followed it with my eyes and watched it land on a tree not far off. I could make out the shape of an owl, but knew that lighting would not be sufficient to get any kind of picture. On my way home, I looked again and the owl was still there. I made a mad dash home for my camera and returned walking gingerly along in pouring rain to grab a few shots. To my wonderful surprise, it was a Great Horned Owl! He was a vision. I spent some time photographing him, then went on about my day.

Last night, I returned home, after dark, from a busy day. As I was driving near our house, the mighty bird appeared again, silhouetted in the shadows, flying silently over the hood of my car and landing in a tree not far from our home. Vil suggested that perhaps the car is scaring up rodents? Whatever it is, it's simply amazing and now, I'm "owl-fatuated".

Mt. Rainier (again)....

I went back down to Rainier for an overnighter last week. The weather at home was drizzle and 60 degrees, but I found summer in the high country with brilliant blue skies and 70s!

My walk on the moon.

"Don't you think their hands were shaking

As that rocket ship touched down?

I'm sure they shivered

When they finally touched the ground

And the giant leap so fragile

That it hardly made a sound"

"It must have been amazing

What a world they got to see

So I don't care, my foolish fear

Won't get the best of me!"

"I'm alive, I've got one shot and I'm taking it to you

I'm alive, come to realize not a moment too soon

That this is my one small step

This is my walk on the moon!"

-Great Big Sea, Walk on the Moon

My own personal walk on the moon has just been submitted to the editor for the lengthy back and forth process of editing and modification. It's been month and months of writing, phone calls, interviews, happy times, frustrating times and victories. Today, I rejoice in the happiness of the beginning of the end. Please join me in a victory shimmy!

And more milestones! Vil finished the walkway to the door yesterday- (hip, hip...Hooray)! This project was a serious work of art- like a mosaic. He carefully matched and crafted each piece to fit the others, leveled each one (they are varying thicknesses), and fashioned them to create a masterpiece. Gorgeous, right? And the sidewalk is nice too :).
And lastly, when backpacking, the goal is always to keep the trash to a minimum for packing out. Vil is the "Trash-Master" on these trips, and has figured out ways to minimize everything by compressing and zipping baggies. This is his gia-normous smile showing off the 4-days of trash between two people. Not bad right?