Golden Rock

Rocks and Driftwood on Ruby Beach

Golden Rock @ 2010 Bo Mackison

Close up view of Ruby Beach as high tide is approaching. I had to hurry to capture this little golden rock on the weathered log, reminded me of a little golden egg resting in a nest,  before the waves started to pool around my ankles.

Even so, by the time we had walked north along the beach a hundred yards and back, we were cut off from the path to the car. Nothing dangerous, and there were lots of people still walking the area, but we all had to either walk across a fallen tree that functioned as a (very narrow, slippery) foot bridge or wade through the Hoh River  at the spot where it enters the Pacific. We chose the route of wet socks, wet hiking boots, and a story to add to our ever increasing pile of memories.

Ruby Beach is on the Pacific Coast in Olympic National Park.

Hoh Rain Forest

Hoh Rain Forest © 2010 Bo Mackison

One of the more popular places to experience on a hike in the Olympic National Park in Washington state is the Hoh Rain Forest. It is one of a handful of temperate rain forests in the Northern Hemisphere that are in a protected area. Much of the forest in the surrounding region has been logged in the last century, and many areas still show the scars of uprooted trees. This makes the Hoh Forest that much more sacred.

The forests proximity to the Pacific Ocean brings an average of 140 inches of annual rain to the forest and mist adds another 30 inches each year. A visit to the Hoh in the summer is the driest choice – only four inches of rain falls in June on average. We walked the trails for several miles and though there was evidence of moisture everywhere, we had only a few drops fall on us.

This is surely one of the greenest places I have ever seen. Bright green everywhere I looked.

A Walk in the Canopy

Hike in Canopy of Trees at UBC Botanical Gardens in Vancouver

Canopy Hike © 2010 Bo Mackison

Vancouver has great places to visit and great spaces to get lost in, too — like this canopy walk in the canopy of a forest in the University of British Columbia Botanical Gardens. It’s quite the experience, walking near the tops of the trees.

Diablo Lake in North Cascades National Park

Diablo Lake in North Cascades National Park © 2010 Bo Mackison

We took an unexpected side trip to the Cascades. As we were driving from Seattle to Vancouver, we saw the Cascades Highway and had to go check out the National Park. We ended up spending the night, getting a bit away from our planned trip. That just makes the trip that much more of an adventure, that much more fun!

And our family collects visits to the National Parks and Monuments the way other families collect coupons.

Mt. Rainier from Paradise

Mt. Rainier National Park, View from Paradise Visitor Center

Mt. Rainier from Paradise © 2010 Bo Mackison

We were lucky. “The mountain is out,” they kept telling us as we were getting ready to drive to Mt. Rainier National Park from Seattle. And so yes, we drove to Mt. Rainier National Park and the skies were clear and all the mountains were snowy and shining in their glory. It was the first day of good snow melt, and the waterfalls and rivers were all rushing and gushing!

We entered the Nisqually Entrance, arriving about 9 am, then drove up towards Paradise.  We stopped way too many times to count for photographs, also for a stroll through the lobby at the historic National Park Inn, a hike to Christine Falls, then lunch at the lovely Paradise Inn.

After checking out the Paradise Visitor Center (very modern, very cool — as in temperature!) where I photographed the above shot of Mt. Rainier, we hiked the Box Canyon trail, took another several hundred photos — the mountain was OUT! — and then gawked and gawked as we walked the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail (giant trees, boardwalk, icy rushing river from snow melt!)

We finally exited the park on the Mather Memorial Parkway in the northeast corner of the park about 9 pm and headed back to Seattle — exhausted but happy! Good thing we were exploring in mid-June and taking advantage of some of the longest days of the year.

Paradise is the name of an area of Mt. Rainier NP which is approximately at 5,400 feet on the 14,000+ south slope of Mount Rainier. Evidently Paradise is the most popular destination for visitors to Mount Rainier National Park, it was jammed with people, but we didn’t stop there long.

There was too much to see elsewhere. There were plenty of people playing in the snow at Paradise though, as seen in the photograph.