Category: Blog

“The mountains are calling, and I must go.”

John Muir

(Mt. Rainier from Tolmie Peak)

One of the great things about living in Washington state is the proximity of the mountains. Whether it’s the Cascades, the Olympics, or the Blue Mountains, they are always there and always calling, as John Muir famously said. And if you’re someone who responds to that call, Washington will spoil you for choice. Doesn’t matter if you prefer strenuous day hikes or weeklong backpacking sojourns or an easy ramble for the whole family; a difficult, technical climb, glacier traversing, or rock scrambling. You can find any and all of these to challenge you, to soothe you, to inspire your soul, and usually within a sixty to ninety minute drive or less.

(Eunice Lake)

Anyone who has tramped as many trails as I have in Washington will have their personal favorite, footsore stomping ground. For me, it’s the area in and around Mt. Rainier National Park (MRNP). The Paradise and Sunrise visitor centers get most of the attention (and the hordes of visitors to prove it) and certainly a visit to Rainier would be incomplete without treading some ground near one or both of them. If, however, you’re looking for something off the heavily beaten path, let me suggest the Carbon River entrance to Mt. Rainier. Now this does not mean you’re going to find complete solitude in the Carbon River area of the park. There will be other hikers and campers, but nowhere near the peak summertime swarms you will encounter at Paradise or Sunrise.

Continue reading “Hiking in Washington” →

(Seattle skyline in the summer sun)

In my last section on Seattle, it seems I was a little hard on the old Emerald City. I may have made one or two references to the fact it occasionally rains a lot in Seattle. Okay, I ranted and joked and whined about it almost nonstop, but you have to understand where this was coming from, right at the end of about eight straight months of the wettest, cloudiest, coolest winters and springs and early summers in recent memory. So at the time it felt fully justified.

Now it’s September and we’ve been enjoying the second longest stretch of days without measurable rainfall in history for this region – forty-eight days, to be precise. So in fairness, I decided to revisit the image of Seattle as Rain City USA and show the other side, that side which does show up from time to time, when the sun actually shines and reminds us all why we live around here and put up with so much crappy weather, because when you finally do hit a span of beautiful summer sunshine, it’s pretty darn near perfect.

(Boats and water wherever you look)

One of the attractive things about the Seattle region and western Washington in general is the abundance of water, and whether you’re looking for salt water or fresh, there’s plenty of both. All that rainfall has to go somewhere and a lot of it ends up cascading down from the mountains in the form of rivers, streams and creeks and pooling itself into big lakes, small lakes, ponds, puddles, reservoirs…well, you get the idea.

(A couple of tiny pleasure craft)

Continue reading “Seattle – Part Two” →

(Seattle Skyline, Space Needle, downtown, and Mt. Rainier in background)

Say Seattle to most people and they think of two things: rain, and more rain. Okay, maybe the Space Needle and really bad sports teams, too, but let’s face it. Moisture and gray skies are what we’re most famous for around here and why not? Let other areas boast of their 300 sunny days a year. Seattleites will proudly puff out their chests and proclaim the beauties of 300 cloudy days, maybe 320 in a good year.

What’s so beautiful about it, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. Um, give me a minute here, I’m thinking…

Okay, so it’s kind of gloomy and dank and drippy and if you stand in one place too long moss starts to grow on you, but honestly, it’s not that bad. I mean being green is the coolest, hippest thing around now, right? So Seattle was way ahead of the curve on that one. And everybody knows too much exposure to old Sol is damaging to your skin, melanoma and all that, so no worries there. What’s so great about blue sky anyway? It always looks the same. It’s blue. Clouds, on the other hand, are never the same twice, come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes and colors and let you use your imagination. Ever see anyone lay on their back in the grass staring up at clear blue sky imagining they see chariots or dolphins or animals floating by in the blue? Didn’t think so.

(Space Needle and some of those famous gray skies)

Continue reading “SEATTLE” →