Looking Back at 2020

It wasn’t the year we expected, well made plans were put on hold. But nature was there reminding us, perhaps more of us than years past, that seasons keep changing, flowers keep blooming, and leaves keep falling.

Here are a few of my favorites taken this year, from the snowy mountains to the San Juan Islands

Snoqualmie Pass

The Mountain Loop

Mount Rainier National Park

Paintbrush

Cascade Foothills and Mountains

The Tatoosh Range

Mount Rainier

Madrone Trees on Orcas Island

Orcas Sunset

Mount Rainier and Fall Color

Glowing Autumn Larch Tree

Mist & Mountains

The big mountains might not have come out to play, but the dancing mist around their obscured summits are just one of the many reasons I never regret a trip to the North Cascades.

Mount St. Helens | Forty Years

For the past three years I’ve had the privilege of visiting Mount St. Helens and carefully photographing her with wildflowers from the trails around Johnston Ridge. Seeing the way life faithfully returns to what was a barren landscape increases my awe of the place with every visit.

This is a collection of the pictures I’ve taken on those trips.

While I wasn't around when Mount St. Helens erupted, I've heard so many stories about what happened on May 18, 1980.

She fascinated me as a child, watching documentaries in school, visiting the mountain, and seeing piles of ash when driving across Eastern Washington. The mountain continues to amaze me today.

To see her now with wildflowers blooming, springing up from ash and rock thrown in the eruption, just seems so poignant with all that's going on in the world right now.

Beauty from ashes.

Pacific Northwest Spring

One of my favorite things to do in the spring is to stand in an old growth forest, surrounded by ancient trees, as the ferns that thrive in their shadows unfurl.

Deer fern.

Bracken fern.

Sword fern.

Their fronds reaching toward the forest canopy, together.

And to observe other plants putting out their greenery and their flowers.

Pacific rhododendron, our state flower, we often find on the eastern slopes of the Olympic Mountains.

And the tiger lily frequently is seen on the side of forest roads and trails.

And I watch how water pours down from snow melt and sky.

Wallace River

I’m reminded that these things happen every year. Nature holds on to hope. Trees drop their leaves in fall in expectation that spring will come and they will breathe again. Flowers invest all their energy in blooming each spring in expectation that a bee will come and help them create seeds for the next year. There’s comfort to be found in that. In hoping.

An Autumn to Remember

What an incredible fall we’ve had. This journal entry features some of my favorites, all taken in the Cascades.