But I finally managed to get our Maui pictures up on flickr!
Maui Pictures!
From there you should be able to browse the entire set and look at or download higher quality versions. I tried to add tags to most of the photos, which you can see to the right of photos that you click on. You can also navigate around my flickr site (here) and see other sets. I'm working on putting up a lot more of our pictures, so I'll be sure to post when there are more.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A few pictures to get us started...
Here are a few pictures from our wonderful trip to Maui last month - more updates will be coming soon!!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Rainier
We had been meaning to make a trip to Rainier ever since we caught our first glimpse of it driving towards downtown, and after finally making it down there this August, I wish we had gone sooner. We were camping at a KOA in Ellensberg, WA after after seeing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Gorge Amphitheatre, and decided to take a side trip to Rainier. After waking up and saying goodbye to our underpass campsite, we headed off through the bleak landscape of Western Washington and worked our way back into the dense forests of fir that surround the park. The first real view of the mountain from the approach we took was pretty spectacular, even with all of the cloud cover.
After driving along some fun and precarious roads on our way to the Sunrise section of the park, we stopped at a viewpoint for a windy photo opportunity.
We parked the car at the Sunrise visitor center (which at 6400' is the highest point in the park reachable by vehicle) and surveyed the nasty looking clouds that were battling it out with the blue sky West of the mountain, and weren't sure if we would be able to hike. Thankfully, following a quick drizzle, and short retreat by us into the center, things started to clear up and we decided to head out.
Even if there was not a giant glaciated volcano looming in the background, this still would have been one of my favorite hikes purely because of the wildflowers that blanketed the slopes.
Becky enjoying the view and the flowers.
Looking back North, the Cascades stretched out for as far as the eye could see.
There was a lovely lake along the way (we had passed it at this point) that still had a large chunk of ice in it that gave off a nice blue glow.
The trail kept going and going, but we had to turn back so we could make it back home at a reasonable hour, so we took a group shot (Becky, Rainier, and I) and hoofed it back to the car.
Some more fantastic wildflowers along the way back.
After driving along some fun and precarious roads on our way to the Sunrise section of the park, we stopped at a viewpoint for a windy photo opportunity.
We parked the car at the Sunrise visitor center (which at 6400' is the highest point in the park reachable by vehicle) and surveyed the nasty looking clouds that were battling it out with the blue sky West of the mountain, and weren't sure if we would be able to hike. Thankfully, following a quick drizzle, and short retreat by us into the center, things started to clear up and we decided to head out.
Even if there was not a giant glaciated volcano looming in the background, this still would have been one of my favorite hikes purely because of the wildflowers that blanketed the slopes.
Becky enjoying the view and the flowers.
Looking back North, the Cascades stretched out for as far as the eye could see.
There was a lovely lake along the way (we had passed it at this point) that still had a large chunk of ice in it that gave off a nice blue glow.
The trail kept going and going, but we had to turn back so we could make it back home at a reasonable hour, so we took a group shot (Becky, Rainier, and I) and hoofed it back to the car.
Some more fantastic wildflowers along the way back.
Lake 22
Towards the beginning of August we continued our hiking adventures by going to Lake 22, a research national area established in 1947. Since this area has been under preservation, there is still a good chunk of old growth forest to meander through, which always makes our inner-children happy (though I might be a little more enamored with them, as evidenced below).
The trail follows a river fed by the lake's drain-off, though it mainly stays far enough from the water so that you only hear hints of the water falls that are hiding off in woods. You do get to see a few of them from the trail, but we decided to take a short side trip to get a better view of one.
Again, Becky showed off her keen slug eye:
After passing through an exposed boulder field, the trail goes back into the woods as it approaches the lake. The snow this winter was quite heavy, and part of the trail had recently been re-carved out from the remnants of an avalanche.
The last part of the trail to the lake was still covered in snow (this was in August, and only at ~2500 feet!), and it was quite chilly as we ate our lunch on the shore. The almost 3000' cliffs that the lake sits at the base of were shrouded in clouds, so we were never able to see the top of Mt. Pilchuck above, but it was still beautiful.
For some reason I couldn't convince Becky to climb up any of these shrouded towers. . .
The trail follows a river fed by the lake's drain-off, though it mainly stays far enough from the water so that you only hear hints of the water falls that are hiding off in woods. You do get to see a few of them from the trail, but we decided to take a short side trip to get a better view of one.
Again, Becky showed off her keen slug eye:
After passing through an exposed boulder field, the trail goes back into the woods as it approaches the lake. The snow this winter was quite heavy, and part of the trail had recently been re-carved out from the remnants of an avalanche.
The last part of the trail to the lake was still covered in snow (this was in August, and only at ~2500 feet!), and it was quite chilly as we ate our lunch on the shore. The almost 3000' cliffs that the lake sits at the base of were shrouded in clouds, so we were never able to see the top of Mt. Pilchuck above, but it was still beautiful.
For some reason I couldn't convince Becky to climb up any of these shrouded towers. . .
Wallace Falls
In the middle of July we decided to take a hike up to see Wallace Falls just north of us. The beginning of this hike was a little ominous since the trailhead parking lot and first bits of the hike were towered over by large power lines that emitted an unexpectedly loud humming and crackling noise. This is the type of thing that makes one pause for a second and question any faith that might be had in the government's ability to keep you out of harms way. Adopting the stance of "If this is not normal and possibly harmful, then I'm sure someone else would have reported it already" we hurried along under the lines until the trail took a turn into the protective woods.
You may not know this about Becky, but she has an extremely keen eye when it comes to spotting slugs along the trail. Proof in point:
The trail to the falls meanders alongside a lovely river with views of smaller falls and lush greenery along the way. Eventually you arrive at a nice viewing area of the upper falls where you can call it a short day or continue on up (and up) to the top viewing area. As you go up the switchbacks towards the top of the falls, you are afforded some pretty nice views along the way.
The top viewing platform allowed us to look back down at the upper falls and out at the valley below, and was a nice spot to end on. Overall a very nice hike, minus the power lines at the beginning.
You may not know this about Becky, but she has an extremely keen eye when it comes to spotting slugs along the trail. Proof in point:
The trail to the falls meanders alongside a lovely river with views of smaller falls and lush greenery along the way. Eventually you arrive at a nice viewing area of the upper falls where you can call it a short day or continue on up (and up) to the top viewing area. As you go up the switchbacks towards the top of the falls, you are afforded some pretty nice views along the way.
The top viewing platform allowed us to look back down at the upper falls and out at the valley below, and was a nice spot to end on. Overall a very nice hike, minus the power lines at the beginning.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Woohoo!
We're going to Maui tomorrow!! I really should be packing right now (we're in the middle of the last minute packing frenzy that we can never seem to avoid), but I needed a break so I decided it was a great time to update the blog :)
Sorry to have neglected putting up new posts, but it turns out that it's probably going to be raining for the next 8 or 9 months, straight so I'm guessing we'll have some time to catch up one of these days. Anyway, we'll be back next Sunday, hopefully with lots of great Hawaii pictures to show everyone!
Sorry to have neglected putting up new posts, but it turns out that it's probably going to be raining for the next 8 or 9 months, straight so I'm guessing we'll have some time to catch up one of these days. Anyway, we'll be back next Sunday, hopefully with lots of great Hawaii pictures to show everyone!
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