From Where I'm Standing: snow

Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Starting 2016 at Diamond Lake and Crater Lake

Happy New Year! To kick off 2016, Craig and I joined some friends from Oregon at their cabin on Diamond Lake. It was a full-blown winter wonderland weekend complete with snowmobiling, snowshoeing, snowboarding, and cabin relaxing. Below are some photos from the trip. Most of them boast Mt. Thielsen, but he looked so fabulous in his new suit of white that it was impossible to not photograph him in every change of lighting.

Craig walking on a frozen Diamond Lake New Year's morning.

Craig, me, and Mt. Thielsen

Craig and Dan get a tow behind the snowmobile

...and we lost a Craig. I love how this photo looks like Dan is trying to lasso Craig.

Me and Kathie riding in style.

How cute is this place?!

I mean seriously! How cute is this place?! Straight out of a fairy tale!

The deep snow made a great beer fridge for the weekend.

For one of the afternoons, some of us headed over to Crater Lake for snowshoeing. Even without being illuminated by a wintry blanket of snow, Crater Lake has an awe-inspiring beauty that has the power to stop anyone in their tracks. The new coating of white created of scene a of pure radiance and accentuated the lake's frigid blue color.

Wizard Island covered in snow

The rim of Crater Lake with snow.

Me trying not to get blown off the crater wall.

Some of the crew spend the afternoon at Crater Lake.

Kathie, Dan, and Craig down below.

Crater Lake

Mt. Thielsen with a morning shroud.

Mt. Bailey blasted by snow.

Mt. Bailey from below.

Silent Creek

Silent Creek and Mt. Bailey

Attempting some ice fishing.

Getting close with Mt. Thielsen.

Mt. Thielsen's ridge at sunset.

Last light on Mt. Thielsen.

The full crew at Diamond Lake: Cory, Lisa, Kathie, Craig, me, Dan, and Mark

Diamond Peak in the distance.

We awoke on the final morning to several inches of fresh snow with more to come. A storm rolled in early morning and continued for the remainder of the day. Icy roads and heavy snowfall, combined with holiday traffic made for an extra-long drive home. What is normally a ~7 hour drive turned into a ~12 hour trip!

Quick stop at the Deschutes River on the snowy drive home.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Mt Dickerman

Yesterday Stephen and I set out to see what the mountains along the Mountain Loop Highway of the North Cascades had to offer. Displeased, we were not!

Below are photos from Mt. Dickerman, an 8.2 mile hike with a 3950 ft elevation gain to the 5760 ft peak. The views along this day hike were stunning--the kind of mountain-scapes folks typically backpack to see. We didn't encounter much snow until above treeline, and while snowshoes would have helped, we were still able to make it to the summit. Great day!

Making our way to the summit, we see some fantastic peaks through the trees.

Closer to the top, more mountains appear.

Intermittent low clouds periodically shroud the mountains around us.

View from the summit, looking east.

Me and the view from the summit, looking west.

A river of low clouds snakes along the valley floor.

The sun poked out for a second and lit up a distant peak.

Stephen at the summit...notice the Gray Jay lurking in the tree next to him.

Our view on the way down.

Stephen posthole-ing on the way on the descent.

One last look!

View looking up to the summit.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Snow Lake

Last weekend, Chris came down from Port Townsend to visit us in Seattle! On Saturday morning/afternoon, we hiked up to Snow Lake where a fresh layer of snow had just been laid down the night before. Such a pretty place!