The Mountain

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June 10, 2005, Friday. We were off to hike the Grove of Old Patriarchs early. The old patriarchs, of course, are the magnificent old trees. Look up and see the canopied universe! The Douglas Fir trees loom some 200 feet high and are 1,000 years, yes one thousand years old!! The Western Red Cedars, Douglas Fir and Western Hemlock dwarf the trail and create a beautiful, lush—almost “holy” atmosphere. The hike was grand.
As we continue to drive, we round the mountain roads and suddenly we are confronted with THE MOUNTAIN. The day is clear and we are face to face with the largest mountain in the Cascade Range, MT. RAINIER. Talk about a “photo-op”. Hope you like the pictures.
The Box Canyon was our next stop. It is difficult for my mind to imagine this “place” covered with glaciers---- scratching and polishing the rocks. Then as time goes by, a small stream of water erodes the rock, then give or take a million or so years, this huge canyon is made! WOW!
We continued to the other side of the NP… Paradise. It is from Paradise that hikers climb to the summit. We followed the beginning trail. Skyline Trail is extremely steep with no switchbacks. It was not long before we were hiking in and out of snow. After about 1½ hours, we are close enough to various glaciers to see crevasses. We chose an alternate return trail Dead Horse Trail then back to Paradise!!!!
We are now at a campground outside Mt. St. Helens, and it is raining.

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