It is soooooooo COLD and gray right now....

I want to go back to the mountains.

SkyWatch

If it were a SkyWatch picture from today it would just look gray and COLD!

Snowshoe SkyWatch

January 2 at Mt. Rainier National Park--the Tatoosh Range in the distance.

SkyWatch is here.

This does not show Mt. Rainier. It was taken at Mt. Rainier National Park, but the peaks that you see are part of the Tatoosh Range south of Mt. Rainier. For some views of Mt. Rainier itself, look here, or here, or here.

Rosy Geometry

I was looking for something recent that was geometric for Geometry Monday.



The new Rose Garden Gazebo is an octagon.







...and it has a view.

Always looking for the mountain view...

When we visit Mt. Rainier there is always the long view to the mountain (assuming the weather permits) and the near view to the wildflowers, the critters, what's going on in the river....

And then suddenly, as you are looking at the near view, the mountain looms again.

Weekend Reflections is hosted by James at Newtown Daily Photo.

Happy Anniversary SkyWatch

Mt. Adams

The third anniversary homepage of SkyWatch is here.

ABC Wednesday---Z

Coming to the end of another alphabet--Z is always a little more difficult than some of the other letters. I must thank Dina from Jerusalem Daily Photo, whose Zones of Silence post suggested the idea of some other zones to me, the ecological zones of Mt. Rainier National Park.

We start at the lower elevations, with the Forest Zone, where abundant rainfall and melting snowpack from above provide for a lush dense growth of a wide variety of green plants.


Hiking through the old growth forest on a warm day is a cooling experience. Ferns, fungus, mosses, lichens, and a variety of cool weather wildflowers carpet the ground. Nurse logs provide a new base for new saplings.

Critters in the forest include some you might be squeamish about.

So, now lets go up to a higher elevation--the Sub-Alpine Zone. Once the snow melts, the lush meadows are home to a rainbow of wildflowers, starting with these Avalanche Lilies and their companion yellow Glacier Lilies, the first to pop through the snow.

Further up the slope we reach the Alpine Zone--conditions so severe that the few trees are only a few feet tall after a hundred year's growth. The soil is thin and rocky.

The area is similar to Arctic tundra. Growing season is so very short...

So, as you see, are the plants. The variety of lupine that grows in this area has leaves that measure--yes, those are centimeter marks, not inches, on the walking stick. Lupine leaves in the sub-Alpine zone measure three to four inches across.

In the rocky reaches of the Alpine Zone, we saw dozens of pika the other day.


So thank you again, Dina, for suggesting that Z is for Zones. Thank you to Denise for another successful round of ABC Wednesday. Thank you to the team for keeping us going. You will find the other ABC-Z entries listed here.

On Top of My World

My fortune cookie last week said I would be on top of the world.

I felt that I was when I took this picture near the Fremont Lookout.

Some others were closer to the top and had been even closer.





Do you see them?



















How about now?

Approximately ten thousand people a year attempt the summit of 14,410 foot Mt. Rainier.

About half of them make it. the others turn back becasue of weather (not an issue this past weekend when these were taken), altitude sickness, or fatigue. Many go with guide services. Others do the climb with friends. Many do it more than once. It requires proper equipment, training in climbing skills, and determination.

For those forced to turn back because of weather or other dangerous conditions, it may be a disappointment, but the mountain will be there another day. We saw a helicopter airlift an injured climber off the mountain yesterday. He was injured on the way down, so after a successful summit.

And that's the story from the top of my world, where among other things, we shoveled some snow this weekend and marked trails to make them safer for those of us whose top of the world looks more like the first picture.

My World Tuesday can be found here.

A Window Opens in the Sky, and behold...

...we got a peek at the peak.

SkyWatch happens every Friday. You can find other skies around the world here.

ABC Wednesday--V is for View

No matter where you look there is a view--over there beyond the school above  is Mt. Adams.

Up past the new Rose Garden, that's Mt. Rainier.

And again Mt. Adams as I walk down a main street of town.

When our city was organized just 101 years ago, or maybe even before, the townspeople did not have a difficult time deciding on a name for the town. What a grand view! someone said. And so it was Grandview.

ABC Wednesday winding down to the end of its sixth round. I've been here since the beginning of Round  Two. I have thoughts already for a theme for Round Seven.

Signs of my world

The City Daily Photo group have a theme day on the first of every month. Though I gave up my Yakima Valley Daily Photo blog almost a year ago, I enjoyed participating in these theme days. Today they are posting funny signs, and I thought I would join their world with this one picked up on our camping trip this weekend when we stopped in at the Visitor Center at Paradise.

I couldn't decide if there was a difference in the weather. Lower down in the old growth forest, there was not much difference in the 40% chance of rain and the 85% chance of rain while it was falling.

This was My World this last weekend.

We'll look at the sky from beneath this tree today...

We may get our faces wet when we do as the forecast is not predicting these blue skies from the past.

SkyWatch Friday is here.

SkyWatch/MountainWatch Sunset

This was taken a year ago today. It's one of my favorite local sunset views. Skies have been blustery lately, so if I go to this spot this evening, the view could be totally different.

Look for other SkyWatch participants at SkyWatch Friday Central.

Drop in to My World--Mt. St. Helens Did 30 Years Ago

While the unpronounceable volcano in Iceland spews ash and disrupts travel (please settle down before we head for Scotland), we come to the thirtieth anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's.

On that Sunday morning thirty years ago, we came out of church to find a big black cloud in the sky.  The eruption had happened just as we were going in to Mass. We hadn't had the radio on in the car on the way. "Big storm coming--wow!" was what we were thinking at that point.

We headed off to breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa--no, in those days we were not Grandma and Grandpa ourselves. The waitress said something about the volcano. What? "Mt. St. Helens--it erupted." "You're kidding!"

She was not kidding.

We were at the very edge of the drop zone. The sparce ash that fell on us was coarse--more like beach sand. Not too far away, however, the ashfall in Yakima was thick and the consistency of talcum powder. It darkened the skies and the street lights came on. That didn't make much difference, as with that ash in the air, people did not go out. They were too fond of breathing.  The ash in the air clogged air filters in cars--a good recipe for a ruined engine.

Closer to the event's source, the blast, which knocked the north side of the mountain off and took about a thousand feet of its elevation, also made the forest on nearby hills look like a pile of toothpicks. Logjams blocked up nearby rivers. Floods and mudflows were devastating.

Looks peaceful now, doesn't it? No, don't worry--that's just a bit of cloud.

That's My World--after 30 years.

Yep--still there!

It's Geometry Monday! Perfect Triangle

There! Behind the trees. Behind the ridge.

Almost isosceles.

Mt. Hood.

ABC Wednesday--M is for...

mountain meadows

the mountain from the meadow

I've done M is from Mountains before, but found this picture while looking through some files and couldn't pass it up.

ABC Wednesday is now halfway through its sixth season. A better record than some TV shows. How do we keep finding new ways to display the letters of the alphabet. Have a look here to see.

In My World Today it's Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day, and I hear that Punxatawney Phil has seen his shadow back there in Pennsylvania, and thus predicted that we will have six more weeks of winter.

Our local groundhog, Hanford Hank, has not seen his shadow today, and so I believe that, here in the Pacific Northwest at least, spring will indeed arrive in six weeks as it should.

Our closest encounters with groundhogs are their cousins the hoary marmots in the meadows of Mt. Rainier.

These guys will not even poke their heads above ground until late April at the earliest. At that time they are skinny little dudes, having hibernated since the previous September. They set out to eat their way through the spring and summer meadows, dining on grasses and wildflowers, lichens and mosses until they have doubled and more their girth, ready with a lovely layer of fat to carry them through another winter of sleep.

We met this marmot in July last year.

My World Tuesday brings out the best of bloggers from around the world. You will find their offerings here.

Weekend Reflections--Huh?

So where is the reflection in this Weekend Reflection? Well, come back in July and stand right there. No, maybe you'd better back up a bit as I am standing  ON Reflection Lake to take this picture. The cross country skiers are also ON the lake. In July, you would see the reflection of the mountain right where they are. It's that incredible reflection image you see on postcards. I'm just a little early--or else a bit late?

James does Weekend Reflections every week and invites us to join him here.

Sneaking behind Anvil Rock--SkyWatch

I just caught the plane headed beyond the ridge on it's way to Seattle Tacoma International Airport (I presume). At the left is the remains of, or beginnings of, another lenticular cloud over Mt. Rainier. I couldn't wait till SkyWatch Friday to share the lenticulars we saw on Sunday's snowshow hike. If you missed them on My world Tudsday, scroll down, or have a look here.

See other SkyWatchers here.

Winter - Summer

From Paradise--December above, July below.

From the Nisqually Vista trail--December above, July below

The Tatoosh Range--December, July

Narada Falls--December, August--is that the same red car?

From the Bed of the Nisqually--December, July