#Mountains - Hurricane Ridge - #Olympic National Park, WA - #SaturdaySnapshots

More photos from the July 17-19 hiking getaway with the #Auburn Senior Activity Center. We spent July 18th in the Hurricane Ridge section of Olympic National Park, not far from Port Angeles. Sunny skies, perfect weather with a cool breeze, and dramatic scenery that's hard to beat.
(Click on photos to enlarge)

Tame deer near the visitor center. What a view!

We walked to the top of High Ridge Trail and beyond

View from "You Are Here" on the map above.
See the hikers near the top of the rise?

View across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Canada.
My cell phone sent me a message saying "Welcome to Canada." 

Break for lunch. Food always tastes better outdoors, doesn't it?

To get to our lunch spot, we hiked along the side of the bare hill on
the left and up past those little patches of  snow in the middle
of the photo. The road into the park is on the right (middle).

Looking back the way we came.

I've posted photos from the rest of our trip here: Waterfalls 
More info about Hurricane Ridge HERE

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Mount Rainier Revisited - Saturday Snapshots

Ever since we visited Mount Rainier in early summer with our guests from Alabama, I've wanted to return. So my husband and I decided to make the drive this past Thursday. A trip from our home to the park's Nisqually entrance, then taking the loop around the mountain, takes pretty much all day, especially when we stop and sightsee. We'll go back soon and get an earlier start because we didn't have time to see everything we'd intended. Here are a few photos from our recent adventure.

View of the mountain from the back porch of the
National Park Inn at Longmire.

Gigantic trees along the aptly named Trail of the Shadows.
It's about a 20 minute hike around a marsh.

Even though other hikers shared the trail,
it was quiet except for birds chirping in the trees.

I love reflections and was delighted to find this little slice
of Mount Rainier mirrored in a pond. This short path
runs along the shores of Reflections Lakes, just off
Stevens Canyon Road.

One final photo before we headed home.

                                          

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Mount Rainier - Saturday Snapshots

It's always fun to host out-of-town guests, especially when we're having a stretch of mild, sunshiny weather like we had in late May. We get to act like tourists! So when our visitors from Alabama spent a week with us, we took the opportunity to gas up the car, slather on the sunscreen, and head out. Here's a sampling of the beauty we found at Mount Rainier National Park. I hope my husband and I are able to visit the park again in late summer when all the snow is gone and wildflowers cover the hillsides. That's something I haven't seen yet, and it's supposed to be amazing.
I'll post photos from our other adventures in the coming weeks.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

The area in the foreground is a gigantic slab of rock, covered in moss and lichen.
Mount Rainier is snowy white year round.

We took a short path through the woods to
get a look at the water roaring through Box Canyon.

Our young guest from Alabama was delighted by all the snow at Paradise.
So strange to be playing in snow in shirt-sleeve weather.

The Official Mount Rainier National Park Service website says: 

Paradise is famous for its glorious views and wildflower meadows. When James Longmire's daughter-in-law, Martha, first saw this site, she exclaimed, "Oh, what a paradise!" The park's main visitor center, the new Paradise Jackson Visitor Center, is located in the upper parking area. Paradise is also the prime winter-use area in the park, receiving on average 641 inches (53.4 feet/16.3 meters) of snow a year.

The people on the right-hand side of the photo should give some
scale to the depth of this overlook above Narada Falls.

The Paradise Inn has been renovated, but
it still retains its historic beauty.

Link HERE for mountain webcams and more information.

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