It is soooooooo COLD and gray right now....

I want to go back to the mountains.

SkyWatch

If it were a SkyWatch picture from today it would just look gray and COLD!

On Top of My World

My fortune cookie last week said I would be on top of the world.

I felt that I was when I took this picture near the Fremont Lookout.

Some others were closer to the top and had been even closer.





Do you see them?



















How about now?

Approximately ten thousand people a year attempt the summit of 14,410 foot Mt. Rainier.

About half of them make it. the others turn back becasue of weather (not an issue this past weekend when these were taken), altitude sickness, or fatigue. Many go with guide services. Others do the climb with friends. Many do it more than once. It requires proper equipment, training in climbing skills, and determination.

For those forced to turn back because of weather or other dangerous conditions, it may be a disappointment, but the mountain will be there another day. We saw a helicopter airlift an injured climber off the mountain yesterday. He was injured on the way down, so after a successful summit.

And that's the story from the top of my world, where among other things, we shoveled some snow this weekend and marked trails to make them safer for those of us whose top of the world looks more like the first picture.

My World Tuesday can be found here.

SkyWatch--Skies Over Two States

Visit the SkyWatch site to see beautiful skies from around the world.    The skies couldn't make up their minds what to do the day we hiked into Hurricane Creek Road near Joseph, Oregon. Our intention was to snowshoe up this trail into the Eagle Cap Wilderness. If we had driven to the campground, we could have started that hike. But because of conditions, we parked on a turnout much farther down the road and hiked up the road (uphill) to the campground.  By the time we got there, we were ready for a rest and to eat our lunch. We decided to make the Eagle Peak hike another time, either on the snowshoes or in the fall as a hike.

After hiking back down the road, we chained up to travel safely down to where it was plowed. When we stopped to remove the chains, we could see clear to Idaho's skies.