St. Helens

Climbed to the rim of St. Helens. Still the winter route up Worm Flows from the Marble Mountain snowpark parking lot. A fun crew. Would have been just a tremendous climb, but smoke from forest fires in Oregon obscured the views.

Snowshoeing at Mt. Rainier - Castle & Pinnacle

I headed into the Tatoosh, up to the Castle and Pinnacle Peak. Forecast called for scattered snow showers. It should have called for: Snow, with conditions ranging from flurries to full on blizzard, clearing occasionally for momentary glimpses of blue sky.

Trees on Mazama ridge.

On the way up. The light gray blur above the trees on the left is the castle.

The Castle in a moment of clarity. The skiers had fantastic conditions that day.

The Castle (dark on far left), with Pinnacle behind it.

Looking up at Pinnacle.

Looking down on Reflection Lakes. Near the center, about a third of the way down from the top edge is a rectangle that is the new Visitors Center at Paradise.

The trail on the way down from Castle and Pinnacle.

Cool, droopy snow.

Trees between Reflection Lakes and Mazama Ridge.

On the way out the clouds lifted for a bit and revealed some more of the Tatoosh (Eagle?).

Snowshoeing at Mt. Rainier

Opened the spring with a fantastic snowshoe at Rainier. Next time we just need to remember to put the sunscreen on a little earlier!

Snowshoeing at Mt. Rainier

Kim and I got out snowshoeing this weekend at Mt. Rainier. The plan had been to head into a nearby wilderness area, but the forest service roads aren't plowed and so weren't passable. So, quick change of plan, we headed in to the Reflection Lakes area for a quiet and beautiful (if a bit cold) weekend.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the skunk that paid us a visit in the night; kindly leaving a scent on our dishes and a pile on the spot where Kim had poured out her tea after dinner. We made some cocoa in the Jetboil, but (needless to say) didn't use the dishes!

The clouds were simply flying over some of the Tatoosh peaks.

And we even managed to catch a fair amount of sun in the afternoon (much better than the cloudy forecast called for!).

The big mountain was hidden in clouds most of the time, but every once in a while we'd catch a glimpse, like this one from camp.

We set up camp fairly early in a small open space southeast of Reflection Lakes.

The sun was _soooo_ nice!

Look at this! Feet on the dinner table! Can't take this girl anywhere!

Mesa Verde

So we day tripped down to Mesa Verde today. Discovered that the name should temporarily be changed to Mesa Negro as fires in the last several years have really blackened the trees and ground cover on most of the mesa tops.

The petroglyphs on Petroglyph Point Trail.


Chris, Kim and Justine.


Some of the cliff dwellings, I forget which site. (Shot in NIR)



And then the storm rolled in...

Capital Reef - A Drive Thru Tour

A quick drive through tour of Capital Reef NP while on my way to visit with Justine and Chris in CO. What an amazing place!