Olympic-Mountains on

Royal Basin Trail.

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Joel was right. The Olympic rain shadow is pretty amazing. It was to be sunny & dry.

gray wolf ridge

Joel and I have gone backpacking together the last two years and have had some great trips but before hand I generally whine about wanting it to be sunny and dry. The NWS forecast for Royal Basin showed a possibility of rain so I suggested we try the East side of the Cascades. Joel wanted the Olympics (I honestly did too but I craved sun) and convinced me to chance it. Damn happy we did.

Mount Zion.

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In need of some time in the mountains, I made a quick trip into the Olympics a couple of weekends ago to hike to the summit of Mt Zion. I left the trail head around 10 am and summited in about an hour. The views from the top were almost entirely clouded out (not quite so on the way up) but I found some calypso orchids along the trail and glacier lily at the summit. The orchid more than made up for the missed panoramic. The snow was almost completely gone, only a couple of spotty patches remained. The trail was in quite excellent condition – and well used – I was not the only one making the trip.

Rolling.

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

sunrise at marmot pass

Scenic.

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

sunset at scenic beach state park

We went to Scenic Beach again this evening, enjoying pizza and a sunset.

Mountains, marmot, blueberries.

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

black and white mt olympus

Last weekend I had the good fortune to backpack the High Divide and Sol Duc River trail, enjoy an overnight at Lunch Lake and summit Bogachiel Peak for unobstructed views of Mount Olympus.

blueberries and heather

Along the trail blueberries, both low bush and high, grew everywhere and they were deliciously sweet. The high grew in the forest shade and the low in the umber heather hugging the ground. We feasted continuously on the hike, often contemplating if there had been any need to bring additional food.

Marmot Pass, sunrise, mountains.

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

With clear weather and field reports of wildflowers in bloom, a friend and I decided to backpack up to Marmot Pass in the Olympics and spend some time shooting photos.

marmot pass

The plan was to hike to Camp Mystery, setup camp and then hike a bit further up to Marmot Pass to catch the sunset over the Olympics. So, under bright skies and in very warm weather we started up the mountain. The first couple miles of the hike hug the Big Quilcene River as the trail winds through the deep green PNW forest.

Shocking, bellflower, love.

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

In the post about the Mountaineers’ photography show I referenced two photos I really enjoyed. Jason took both and is kind enough to let me post them.

Shocking!

This one is crazy and deserving winner of Humor in the Outdoors though it sounds as scary as humorous. As I wrote yesterday, her hair is standing on end because of residual electricity from a lightning strike – yikes! Look at the top of the photo and you can see one of Mt Ellinor’s famous mountain goats. I hiked this trail with my dad hoping to see the goats but didn’t – I’m determined to photograph them.

Sunset, orange, fire.

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

We saw quite a show on the ride home tonight – even the iPhone gives a sense for the colors and what looked like a sky on fire.

sunset

Sunrise, flowers and the Olympic Mountains.

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Series: Sunset > Sunrise > Heather Park

We patiently await the arrival of the sun to summit Mt Baker.

Mt Baker with the sun minutes from cresting its flanks.

Early morning light rolling through the Olympic Mountains.

I think this is perhaps my favorite photo of the set for the lighting and the concerns of the grouse as it contemplates another day – and also because I shot this from the driver’s seat.

Sunset, flowers and the Olympic Mountains.

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Series: Sunset > Sunrise > Heather Park

This will be the first in a short series of posts displaying some of the photos I took on a recent camping and hiking overnight to Olympic National Park. I went with a loose group of Mountaineers to capture the abundant wildflowers in bloom and marvel at the sun’s dramatic visual displays on the mountains.

The first evening we headed up to Hurricane Ridge and Hurricane Hill to shoot the sunset. The sun was really bright and strong in the early evening as the first couple of photos easily demonstrate but gradually gave way to pink and orange.