In the Northwest, Mount Rainier is nearly an equal partner with the sun and the moon. Sometimes the foothills seem to disappear and the mountain truly appears to float in the sky.
Yet despite its celestial appearance, the rock-and-ice reality of the mountain is relatively close by.
The Carbon River region, in the park's northwest corner, is only a two-hour drive from Seattle, making exploring the flanks of the volcano relatively easy.
July 15, 2004
Sheltered by the peaks that form the heart of the range, the eastern flank of the Olympic Mountains gets less precipitation -- and for some reason less attention -- than the more famous approaches on the west side.
But they're every bit as spectacular, and for springtime hikers hungry to dust off their gear, several trails in the eastern Olympics open early enough to provide a taste of the backcountry, even while many of the state's more popular hikes still are buried under snow.
April 22, 2004
Mount Rainier National Park ranger Jim Hitone has been leading snowshoe trips at the Paradise visitor center for three years, and he insists he loves just about every minute of it.
"I feel like I have the best job in the world," Hitone told a group of 20 novice snowshoers assembled for a free introductory snowshoe trip at Paradise. The white-haired ranger, who looks to be in his 60s, is both enthusiastic and cautious.
January 15, 2004
NEAH BAY -- As you look out at Tatoosh Island from the tip of Cape Flattery, all of the continental United States lies behind you. Gulls glide past on the breeze, and the waves foaming the rocks far below heighten the illusion that you're sailing into the gray sea.
From this northwesternmost point in the lower 48 you can lean into the wind and imagine you're on the prow of the nation, crashing westward into the Pacific.
November 20, 2003
The day before my first hike with The Mountaineers the weather was not looking good. It was, as the Scots say, a bit dreich outside.
That's an unpronounceable Gaelic word that means cold, dark, dreary and miserable. In other words, a typical late autumn day in Seattle.
So when my alarm sounded at 6 the next morning, the thought of emerging from under the goose-down comforter, hefting my daypack into the Subaru and driving to Chuckanut Drive south of Bellingham was about as appealing as cold haggis.
December 26, 2002
A couple years ago, a TV commercial featured a daredevil mountain skateboarder flying off a mountainside with effortless grace. He then planted his face into a pile of loose shale and tumbled downhill. The ad cut to a shot of several Gore-Tex-clad observers climbing into an SUV and wondering aloud: "What was he thinking?"
Staring down a small hillside at Seattle's Woodland Park with a mountainboard strapped to my feet for the first time, I'm asking myself the same question.
September 26, 2002
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