Mount Rainier

In early February, we found ourselves in one of the snowiest places on earth, Mount Rainier National Park. Last winter, a location called Paradise (which sits at 5,400 feet and has a summer-only lodge and visitor center as well as access to alpine hiking and climbing), saw 650 inches of snow. In the winter of 71/72, 1,122 inches of snow fell!

We spent two nights at the National Park Inn, which is located in Longmire (elevation 2700 feet). On the first afternoon of our stay, we snowshoed on Rampart Ridge Trail and the Wonderland Trail. The lower slopes of Rainier alternated between sunny and snowy. The summit was covered in a thick blizzard of snow. We got back to the lodge right as darkness fell and quickly huddled up by a roaring fireplace.

On day 2, we left Longmire under foggy conditions but drove up to Paradise under piercing blue sky. The snow was so deep, that cars were dwarfed by the drifts. We spent the morning xc skiing out to Reflection Lakes. Once out to the lakes, we sat down in the snow for a winter picnic. As soon as we opened our backpacks, several Gray Jays came swooping in, hoping to steal some food. They landed on our ski tips and watched us closely.

In the afternoon of day 2, we snowshoed through some fantastic powder on the slopes of the mountain. We left Paradise near sunset, as fog began to once again envelope the mountain.

On the morning of day 3, we watched the glorious pink alpenglow from our lodge room window. We then spent the morning snowshoeing up Christine Falls Trail, before leaving the park en route to the Olympic Peninsula.

The Sunny Coast

The winter months along the northern coast of California are typically full of rain. The sun may shine here or there, but rain is the norm. This year has been the exception! Since the beginning of January, we have had day after day of sunny weather. In fact, we have had just two storms in 2011. One lasted a few days and the other lasted less than 24 hours. Every other day has been sunny! We've taken advantage of the weather by hiking and biking a lot. Our main focus of hiking has been Redwood NP and our main focus of biking has been the nearby Hammond Trail (which we can access right near our house). We also had a wonderful hike to Elk Head near Trinidad, which we did with 15 people from church.

Well, with that said, it's sunny out, so I'm heading to the beach!

Snowy Michigan

We spent the middle part of our Christmas vacation in Michigan (we spent the beginning and end in Las Vegas). There wasn't a ton of snow, but it was just enough to ski, ski, ski!!! We ended up skiing 9 times in 5 different locations in 7 days. Not bad! We spent time with my parents, brother John and family, numerous relatives and lots of friends. It was a wonderful week, which went by too fast!

Below, is a photo of Lake Michigan from Duck Lake State Park. I do love the lake in the winter!

Vegas Flooding

We spent the beginning and end of our Christmas vacation in Las Vegas with Susanna's parents (the middle was spent in Michigan with my parents). Susanna arrived a few days before I did and ended up experiencing 5 straight days of rain! I enjoyed the last couple of days of rain, with the grand finale being a raging flash flood out the back door of Susanna's parents house. The first picture above is of the final day of rain. That is a golf course (which normally doesn't have any water running through it) and a glimpse of the rugged mountains to the west of Vegas. We later measured the river to be about 18 feet wide and 3 feet deep. The photo below is of the same view a day later. The sun finally came out!

Thanksgiving in "The Bay Area"

We spent our Thanksgiving exploring all over San Fransisco and the surrounding area. The first half of our adventure was based out of our friends' place just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. While there, we explored Golden Gate NRA, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, visited Fort Point NHS, explored downtown SF, and visited both John Muir NHS and SF Maritime NHP. The most exciting moments, however, came while exploring Point Reyes NS. We were there on a cold and sunny day with very few other people. The wildlife was tremendous. Countless black-tailed deer roamed the grass-filled hills. We watched a coyote slowly stalking its prey, ending the hunt by leaping high into the air and pouncing. Once along the stunning shoreline, we found deserted beaches full of elephant seals. Out in the ocean, we saw sea lions, harbor seals and even a mighty gray whale. It was an incredible day which ended with a glorious sunset over the vast Pacific Ocean.

The second half of our "Bay Area" adventure took us to San Jose, where we visited with our cousins, Jeff, Heidi and kids. We had a wonderful time catching up and relaxing a bit. We also found time to visit the Japanese Tea Gardens and Pinnacles National Monument.

Now, we are back along the north coast in McKinleyville. It's raining heavily outside and seems as if it's been dark for hours (even though it's not even 7 p.m.). We will work for the next couple of weeks, then set out once again, this time for our Christmas adventures!

Burney Falls

This past weekend, we did a short backpacking trip on the PCT in the Burney Falls area in NE California. Daytime temps peaked at around 70 and overnight lows dropped into the mid 30's. Nice fall weather! We ended our backpacking trip at Burney Falls, where we explored a stunning waterfall which fell into a hidden gorge. We hiked into the falls area in the early morning, and therefore had the place pretty much to ourselves. The waterfall, according to Theodore Roosevelt, is the 8th natural wonder of the world. I wouldn't put it quite on the same plane as the Grand Canyon or the Great Barrier Reef...but it was really awesome!

The Rut

Fall is definitely in the air now. One of the biggest reminders of that has been the activity of nearby elk herds. We've spent several days recently watching and listening to the elk in Redwood NP. The sound of bugling has been ringing throughout the ancient redwood forests. There are several very large bulls that each have a harem to themselves. The slightly smaller bulls have been hanging around the harems and occasionally coming close enough to nearly start a fight. Usually, they seem to run quickly away when the huge bull comes at them. Then, the younger bulls clash with each other...perhaps out of frustration?

This huge bull had one thing on his mind. He was in charge of a rather large harem. One day, I rounded a corner of a trail in some thick forest and came face to face with the entire herd. The king of the herd looked at me briefly, but fortunately decided that I wasn't a threat.

It's good to remember that the elk are indeed wild!