Tag Archives: Mt. Rainier

Summer in the Cascade Mountains is like a second spring. When phlox and trillium start to wither under the heat of summer at lower elevations in the Pacific Northwest, the wildflowers of the Cascades are just getting started. As neighborhood lawns turn August brown, high alpine meadows are lush with lupine and Indian paintbrush. When our regional scarcity of air …

In early December, the sun sets on Mt. Rainier at an abysmal 4:20 p.m. For the winter backcountry adventurer, watching the sun dip below the horizon does not suggest a leisurely postprandial pursuit for lounging around camp sipping from a flask. When sunset comes at the time my deskbound self would be brewing an afternoon pick-me-up to carry me through …

 Inhospitable.  That’s it, in a word. Inhospitable. The word for today—and for this landscape. The three of us were working our way across the terrain of the North Cascades, ostensibly out here recreating but more accurately, persevering. Here in the shadows of the White Salmon Basin, the sun will not crest the north face of Mt. Shuksan for some hours …

In my images I strive to capture the sense of solitude, curiosity, and freedom I feel when exploring the wilderness. Summer is one of my favorite seasons to set off into the mountains. For a fleeting moment, the snow is melting, the flowers blooming, and the warm sunshine illuminates the rugged landscape. My favorite images capture scenes that extend beyond …

  “If we approached rivers, mountains, dragonflies, redwoods and reptiles as if all are alive, intelligent and suffused with soul, imagination and purpose, what might the world become?” “Who would WE become if we participated intentionally with such an animate earth?”                                       …

  What calls? What beckons? What primeval invitation is answered when the comforts of modernity are exchanged for dirt, rain, and rocks?  A better body? A more enviable digital platform? A belt buckle? Bar room bragging rights? For sure each of those things have their appeal:  the ego is a force to be reckoned with. Yet, stripped of pretense, weathered, …

Mount Rainier towers over the Pacific Northwest, an iconic volcano that embodies the drama and majesty that define this special part of the country. The mountain stands at 14,411 ft and is the tallest mountain in Washington and the Cascade  Range. The summer months between late-July and August are the most popular months to visit Rainier due to its extensive …

Washington State is a magnificent land of dynamic contrasts. It is a land born of fire, sculpted by ice and molded by the forces of time. It’s a landscape of diverse microclimates and geological features and expressions that arrest the senses. It is a living painting unfolding before our very eyes. The extraordinary beauty of our state is often close …

Fall is perhaps my favorite season to photograph nature. The sun hangs lower in the sky, casting long shadows and sweet light across a tapestry of leaves and foliage that changes colors day by day. I love the smells too and the crisp feeling in the air that reminds me to soak up the last of the warm days before …

Two years ago Abram Dickerson had a big idea. The previous autumn he had completed a 34 mile run on the Copper Ridge Loop —a spectacularly scenic trail in North Cascades National Park — and the experience had left him wanting more. So Dickerson, a transplant to the Pacific Northwest from northern California, created Aspire Adventure Running, an organization dedicated …