Sunday, September 23, 2007

Washington, Oregon, California

After leaving Montana I drove across Idaho to Washington.

I stopped at a Rest Area, and took this picture of Mount Rainier from there, about 75 miles away.

The Pacific Crest Trail near Mount Rainier was on my agenda, so I headed there next. I found the Pacific Crest Trail about 10 miles east of Rainier and hiked south for a bit near Chinook Pass. I took the following photo of Mount Rainier from a side trail from the PCT, since the PCT runs on the opposite side of the pass from Mount Rainier. The glacier on the NE side of Rainer is the largest in the lower 48.

Unfortunately, the road through Mount Rainier NP from this point was closed, so I had to backtrack to the south side of the park to set up camp in the park. I took this picture from the south side of Rainier.

The next morning, the mountain and any long vistas were covered by clouds and the forecast was for more of the same for the next two days, so I headed to my next point of interest, Mount St Helens, which was just a few miles south. Amazingly, this drive, which was less than 100 miles took most of the day, because the road was small and winding. Here is a picture of the road, which is typical of this part of Washington, Oregon and California, mainly spruce and Douglas Fir forests.

Mount St Helens was mostly covered by clouds, but I did get this partial from about 10 miles away. Amazingly, even at this distance the trees were dead from the force of the blast 27 years ago.

After a night in Cottage Cove, Oregon, I visited the Church there and set off for California. I took this picture of Mount Shasta from a rest area shortly after I entered California. Next stop, Yosemite.

3 comments:

nemattox said...

I'm glad it already looks warmer where you are! I hope you didn't waste your time getting back to a hotel specifically to watch last Thursday's game - what a nightmare. Jeremy and I drove out to Joe and Kathy's to watch, so we got to watch us dramatically fall apart on national TV in full, widescreen, high definition. Frustrating experience.
-Nicole

Amanda W said...

Once again, your photos make me jealous! :) Random fact: my parents and myself (at about 8 months) moved to Portland, Ore. the day after Mt. St. Helens erupted.

max said...

Nicole, I did spend the night in a hotel specifically to see the game, so I sympathize. I already had a bad feeling about the game anyway. From what I've seenand heard, the Ags have not looked good all year.

Amanda, I count it a blessing daily that I get to enjoy such spectacular scenes. Interesting that you got to see St Helens erupt. That must have been amazing...too bad you probably don't remember any of it. Just looking at the pictures and remembering the news stories makes the hairs stand on the back of my neck. Too bad I didn't get to see as much of it as I wanted. The roads were all small, winding and deadended far from where you wanted to be.