We spent eight days on a silent meditation retreat in Castle Rock, Washington. The retreat center is named Cloud Mountain, and the grounds were green and lovely.
Moss grows on most surfaces here. It was the drier season and yet we still had a few days of rain.
When we looked up, this is what we saw.
There were 44 people at the retreat. This is the porch of one of the buildings where retreatants stay. It is decorated with the international Buddhism flag.
Like we did at the Burmese monastery last December, here too we practiced awareness meditation. The bell was rung to several times a day to tell us it was time for seated meditation.
The daily practice schedule included lots of unstructured time so we had freedom to choose what to do. There were beautiful hiking trails to explore.
This covered bridge enabled us to cross the stream.
As we practiced being mindful, it seemed that the wild animals were less afraid of us. This hare was comfortable enough to continue eating in our presence for awhile.
After the retreat we drove to Crater Lake National Park. The lake was created about 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot volcano erupted and then collapsed to form this caldera.
Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US with a depth of 1,943 feet.
We rode our tandem on Rim Drive, which circles the lake in 33 miles. Here we are on the north side of the lake at an elevation of about 6,800 feet.
The lake is fed by rain and snow only, which is why the water is so clear and blue. It is considered the cleanest lake in the world.
Wizard Island was formed by a subsequent volcanic eruption of a cinder cone 7,300 years ago.
Evidence of volcanic activity was abundant. The orange pumice stone is harder than the other rock around it, so erosion has carved the Pumice Castle.
This second smaller island is named Phantom Ship and is made of erosion resistant lava that is about 400,000 years old.
We saw this warning sign not to try to hike down to the water. Since the lake water is about 50 degrees, we were not tempted.
The sides of the caldera are really steep with lots of loose material.
All of Rim Drive had only been open for five days before our visit, as snow had prevented access on the eastern side. Annual snowfall is usually 43 feet. This year they received only 50% of that, but it snowed late in the season.
There were lots of beautiful wildflowers like this lupine.
This is St. John's wort, which is not native to Oregon, so the park is trying to eradicate it. Each plant can produce up to 100,000 seeds and seeds can remain dormant for up to 20 years, making it very difficult to get rid of.
We camped and used our camping stove to cook. Our typical breakfast is tea and oatmeal.
One night Pete grilled us a dinner of sausages, corn, bread and onions. The smoke from the fire helped keep the mosquitoes away, an added bonus.
We drove down to an area called Pinnacles to check out these fossil fumaroles.
They were formed at the same time as Crater Lake when volcanic gases moved up through volcanic ash and cemented the ash into solid rock. Most of these fumaroles are hollow.
On part of Rim Drive there were road crews working to proactively pull down large boulders and tree trunks that were threatening to roll down to the road.
While waiting for the road crews, Pete spotted this marmot near the road.
Since we started our road trip we have been “collecting” license plates. So far we’ve seen 34 US states and 4 Canadian provinces, and most of our sitings have been in the national parks. It’s heartening for us that these beautiful places attract so many visitors from all over North America! Oregon has a dozen different license plate styles, including one for Crater Lake that was issued for the park’s centennial in 2008.
It’s essential for us to break up our nights of camping with some more comfortable time at a hotel. We really enjoyed our earlier visits to Portland, so we returned for a quick stay. We were happy to be back since this meant we could enjoy another lunch at Lardo!
With a dozen sandwiches and 16 draft beers to choose from it was hard to make up our minds.
Pete went for the visiting chef option of chorizo with manchego (right) and a hoppy blonde beer. Kristina ordered Lardo's take on the Vietnamese classic bahn mi, a pork sandwich served with spicy sauce and cilantro. It was outstanding, as was the IPA she ordered. And the house made pickled vegetables were stellar.
We were staying near the Alberta neighborhood, which has a charming artist scene.
We enjoyed walking around the neighborhood and checking out the local color. The trash/recycling containers were made from old street signs.
We had an exceptional dinner at Aviary restaurant in the Alberta neighborhood.
Their cauliflower flan served with sea urchin, salmon roe and seaweed had sumptuous textures.
And the pork belly dish with pickled rhubarb, quince and endive had Japanese flavors with its ginger dashi and black sesame seed sauce.
We drove north from Portland into Washington. We noticed lots of evidence of logging, including clear cutting done recently or in the not-too-distant past.
Not surprisingly, near the logging activity we often saw large, active lumber mills.
We drove to Mount Ranier for hiking and camping. It was exciting to get our first views of the mountain.
From our campsite we walked to the Nisqually River and crossed it via a log bridge.
The river is fed by glacial runoff and looks milky because it contains sediment. Over time the Nisqually Glacier glacier moves and grinds rocks into powder called glacial flour.
This view shows how this glacier formed the valley. The glacier's terminus retreated from this bridge (where we took the photo) about 150 years ago. The Nisqually Glacier is one of 25 glaciers still existing on Mount Rainier.
The next day we went to Paradise where most hikers climbing to the summit start. We talked to this climber who had successfully summited last year. We were surprised to learn that 10,000 people attempt the climb and only half are successful.
He estimated his pack weighed between 60-70 pounds. First he and his climbing partner would hike to Camp Muir, elevation 10,000 feet and camp for the night. The next day, carrying just their climbing gear and essentials, they would ascend the summit at 14,000 feet. Depending on how tired they were, they would either spend the night at Camp Muir or hike back down to Paradise, elevation 5,000 feet.
Paradise gets about 680 inches of snow on average. Our hike included crossing through snow fields. We were glad we had poles to help with balance, and it helped us appreciate how challenging it would be to climb Mount Rainier all the way to the summit.
We heard a high pitched whistle sound that kept repeating, and we guessed it was a bird. But then we spotted a marmot who was making this noise to alert the other marmots that people were around.
On the parts of the meadow that weren't still under snow, the marmots were busy eating and the wildflowers were busy growing.
We learned later that marmots hibernate from mid September to mid May, so they have to eat as much as they can during the summer when they are awake. They were fun to watch.
The meadows were covered with Pasqueflowers. Like most wildflowers here, they have a six week life cycle to sprout, flower and seed.
The glacier lily has a different strategy. It sprouts under the snow in September and grows slowly all winter and spring. Then it burns starch to create heat so that the snow above it melts and the lily blooms.
This was the highest up the snow covered trail we made it, perhaps 1,000 feet above the Paradise Visitor Center.
Mount Rainier National Park was established in 1899 as the fifth national park in the US. The Paradise Visitor Center is an interesting modern building with lots of exhibits.
We saw beautiful and fragrant bear grass flowers. They are pollinated by butterflies, who are attracted to the scent. The Native Americans in the area still harvest the grass from the plant for traditional uses.
Mount Rainier is famous for its fields of wildflowers. While it was not yet the peak bloom, we still saw many different flowers.
From Reflection Lake we enjoyed the reflected view of Mount Rainier and the surrounding forest.
On our final day in the park we drove to the south eastern corner, stopping along the way to see the different views. Kristina is in front of Narada Falls, which are 188 feet tall.
The National Park Service did a great job creating the infrastructure of the park. We learned that this "Rustic Style" of architecture was created at Mount Rainier during the 1920s through the 1940s and used public works laborers during the Great Depression to build bridges, rock walls and buildings.
We hiked down to Box Canyon. The vertical canyon walls went down 115 feet to the river. The sound of the river was surprisingly loud!
We had a great hike in a 1,000 year old forest, crossing over a suspension bridge to reach it.
This area became an island when the Ohanapecosh River was split by a volcanic lahar, which is a hot mud and lava flow. Lahars that have occurred over 50 times at Mount Rainier and because of their relative frequency, they are considered more of a threat than a volcanic eruption.
The Ohanamecosh River was a beautiful emerald green.
People had made rock sculptures along the shore.
Pete added his own rock sculpture.
By being an island, the forest was protected from forest fire and there are huge old trees. This western redcedar is over 1,000 years old and 250 feet tall.
Although named redcedar, it is actually a type of juniper. It has beautiful patterns in its bark.
The redcedar on the left is climbing on the neighboring Douglas fir.
Redcedars can reproduce from seeds and they grow the best in rotten wood that is in contact with the soil.
But in mature forests like this one, new trees commonly grow from branches on downed trees that grow up to be full sized trees.
After our hike we ate a picnic lunch.
Then drove out of the park to Spokane.
Moss grows on most surfaces here. It was the drier season and yet we still had a few days of rain.
When we looked up, this is what we saw.
There were 44 people at the retreat. This is the porch of one of the buildings where retreatants stay. It is decorated with the international Buddhism flag.
Like we did at the Burmese monastery last December, here too we practiced awareness meditation. The bell was rung to several times a day to tell us it was time for seated meditation.
The daily practice schedule included lots of unstructured time so we had freedom to choose what to do. There were beautiful hiking trails to explore.
This covered bridge enabled us to cross the stream.
As we practiced being mindful, it seemed that the wild animals were less afraid of us. This hare was comfortable enough to continue eating in our presence for awhile.
After the retreat we drove to Crater Lake National Park. The lake was created about 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot volcano erupted and then collapsed to form this caldera.
Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US with a depth of 1,943 feet.
We rode our tandem on Rim Drive, which circles the lake in 33 miles. Here we are on the north side of the lake at an elevation of about 6,800 feet.
The lake is fed by rain and snow only, which is why the water is so clear and blue. It is considered the cleanest lake in the world.
Wizard Island was formed by a subsequent volcanic eruption of a cinder cone 7,300 years ago.
Evidence of volcanic activity was abundant. The orange pumice stone is harder than the other rock around it, so erosion has carved the Pumice Castle.
This second smaller island is named Phantom Ship and is made of erosion resistant lava that is about 400,000 years old.
We saw this warning sign not to try to hike down to the water. Since the lake water is about 50 degrees, we were not tempted.
The sides of the caldera are really steep with lots of loose material.
All of Rim Drive had only been open for five days before our visit, as snow had prevented access on the eastern side. Annual snowfall is usually 43 feet. This year they received only 50% of that, but it snowed late in the season.
There were lots of beautiful wildflowers like this lupine.
This is St. John's wort, which is not native to Oregon, so the park is trying to eradicate it. Each plant can produce up to 100,000 seeds and seeds can remain dormant for up to 20 years, making it very difficult to get rid of.
We camped and used our camping stove to cook. Our typical breakfast is tea and oatmeal.
One night Pete grilled us a dinner of sausages, corn, bread and onions. The smoke from the fire helped keep the mosquitoes away, an added bonus.
We drove down to an area called Pinnacles to check out these fossil fumaroles.
They were formed at the same time as Crater Lake when volcanic gases moved up through volcanic ash and cemented the ash into solid rock. Most of these fumaroles are hollow.
On part of Rim Drive there were road crews working to proactively pull down large boulders and tree trunks that were threatening to roll down to the road.
While waiting for the road crews, Pete spotted this marmot near the road.
Since we started our road trip we have been “collecting” license plates. So far we’ve seen 34 US states and 4 Canadian provinces, and most of our sitings have been in the national parks. It’s heartening for us that these beautiful places attract so many visitors from all over North America! Oregon has a dozen different license plate styles, including one for Crater Lake that was issued for the park’s centennial in 2008.
It’s essential for us to break up our nights of camping with some more comfortable time at a hotel. We really enjoyed our earlier visits to Portland, so we returned for a quick stay. We were happy to be back since this meant we could enjoy another lunch at Lardo!
With a dozen sandwiches and 16 draft beers to choose from it was hard to make up our minds.
Pete went for the visiting chef option of chorizo with manchego (right) and a hoppy blonde beer. Kristina ordered Lardo's take on the Vietnamese classic bahn mi, a pork sandwich served with spicy sauce and cilantro. It was outstanding, as was the IPA she ordered. And the house made pickled vegetables were stellar.
We were staying near the Alberta neighborhood, which has a charming artist scene.
We enjoyed walking around the neighborhood and checking out the local color. The trash/recycling containers were made from old street signs.
We had an exceptional dinner at Aviary restaurant in the Alberta neighborhood.
Their cauliflower flan served with sea urchin, salmon roe and seaweed had sumptuous textures.
And the pork belly dish with pickled rhubarb, quince and endive had Japanese flavors with its ginger dashi and black sesame seed sauce.
We drove north from Portland into Washington. We noticed lots of evidence of logging, including clear cutting done recently or in the not-too-distant past.
Not surprisingly, near the logging activity we often saw large, active lumber mills.
We drove to Mount Ranier for hiking and camping. It was exciting to get our first views of the mountain.
From our campsite we walked to the Nisqually River and crossed it via a log bridge.
The river is fed by glacial runoff and looks milky because it contains sediment. Over time the Nisqually Glacier glacier moves and grinds rocks into powder called glacial flour.
This view shows how this glacier formed the valley. The glacier's terminus retreated from this bridge (where we took the photo) about 150 years ago. The Nisqually Glacier is one of 25 glaciers still existing on Mount Rainier.
The next day we went to Paradise where most hikers climbing to the summit start. We talked to this climber who had successfully summited last year. We were surprised to learn that 10,000 people attempt the climb and only half are successful.
He estimated his pack weighed between 60-70 pounds. First he and his climbing partner would hike to Camp Muir, elevation 10,000 feet and camp for the night. The next day, carrying just their climbing gear and essentials, they would ascend the summit at 14,000 feet. Depending on how tired they were, they would either spend the night at Camp Muir or hike back down to Paradise, elevation 5,000 feet.
Paradise gets about 680 inches of snow on average. Our hike included crossing through snow fields. We were glad we had poles to help with balance, and it helped us appreciate how challenging it would be to climb Mount Rainier all the way to the summit.
We heard a high pitched whistle sound that kept repeating, and we guessed it was a bird. But then we spotted a marmot who was making this noise to alert the other marmots that people were around.
On the parts of the meadow that weren't still under snow, the marmots were busy eating and the wildflowers were busy growing.
We learned later that marmots hibernate from mid September to mid May, so they have to eat as much as they can during the summer when they are awake. They were fun to watch.
The meadows were covered with Pasqueflowers. Like most wildflowers here, they have a six week life cycle to sprout, flower and seed.
The glacier lily has a different strategy. It sprouts under the snow in September and grows slowly all winter and spring. Then it burns starch to create heat so that the snow above it melts and the lily blooms.
This was the highest up the snow covered trail we made it, perhaps 1,000 feet above the Paradise Visitor Center.
Mount Rainier National Park was established in 1899 as the fifth national park in the US. The Paradise Visitor Center is an interesting modern building with lots of exhibits.
We saw beautiful and fragrant bear grass flowers. They are pollinated by butterflies, who are attracted to the scent. The Native Americans in the area still harvest the grass from the plant for traditional uses.
Mount Rainier is famous for its fields of wildflowers. While it was not yet the peak bloom, we still saw many different flowers.
From Reflection Lake we enjoyed the reflected view of Mount Rainier and the surrounding forest.
On our final day in the park we drove to the south eastern corner, stopping along the way to see the different views. Kristina is in front of Narada Falls, which are 188 feet tall.
The National Park Service did a great job creating the infrastructure of the park. We learned that this "Rustic Style" of architecture was created at Mount Rainier during the 1920s through the 1940s and used public works laborers during the Great Depression to build bridges, rock walls and buildings.
We hiked down to Box Canyon. The vertical canyon walls went down 115 feet to the river. The sound of the river was surprisingly loud!
We had a great hike in a 1,000 year old forest, crossing over a suspension bridge to reach it.
This area became an island when the Ohanapecosh River was split by a volcanic lahar, which is a hot mud and lava flow. Lahars that have occurred over 50 times at Mount Rainier and because of their relative frequency, they are considered more of a threat than a volcanic eruption.
The Ohanamecosh River was a beautiful emerald green.
People had made rock sculptures along the shore.
Pete added his own rock sculpture.
By being an island, the forest was protected from forest fire and there are huge old trees. This western redcedar is over 1,000 years old and 250 feet tall.
Although named redcedar, it is actually a type of juniper. It has beautiful patterns in its bark.
The redcedar on the left is climbing on the neighboring Douglas fir.
Redcedars can reproduce from seeds and they grow the best in rotten wood that is in contact with the soil.
But in mature forests like this one, new trees commonly grow from branches on downed trees that grow up to be full sized trees.
After our hike we ate a picnic lunch.
Then drove out of the park to Spokane.
