Joanna, Jeremy, Angela, and I went up to Paradise at the base of Mt. Rainier to go on a hike and check out the famous Paradise wildflowers
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Joanna, Jeremy, Angela, and I went up to Paradise at the base of Mt. Rainier to go on a hike and check out the famous Paradise wildflowers A view of Mt. Rainier from Paradise Ranger Steve led us on a hike down to the Nisqually glacier On the way we saw a ton of avalanche lilies The avalanche lilies were everywhere They are one of the first flowers to bloom after the snow melts and bloom for only 2 weeks Since this Spring had an inordinate amount of precipitation, not all the snow had melted by August You can see the patches of snow still lingering throughout the park A yellow-pine chipmunk At this high altitude, the subalpine fir, mountain hemlock, and alaska yellow cedar dominate Move down 1000 or so feet and the flora and fauna are totally different Bear grass, a member of the lily family Magenta paintbrush More magenta paintbrushes Giant red paintbrush At the Nisqually glacier It's moving at over 2 feet per day and cutting a valley from its meltwater The toe of the glacier Mt. Rainier is considered one of the more potentially dangerous volcanoes due to its pyroclastic lahars and proximity to large urban populations. Olympia is not in the potential path of the mudlfow. Yay! Myrtle Falls Lupine Frog eggs The poisonous corn lily hellebore Jeffrey's Shooting Star Another view of Myrtle Falls Mule deer sitting motionless near the hiking path A great view of a hoary marmot until I scared it away and pissed off all the other onlookers. :-) Jeremy's serious face at Narada Falls and not so serious face