Pacific Northwest

Magic Waters

The cascades are a neat place to enjoy fall colors and rushing waters. The Sol Duc River gets its name from the Quiluete Native American word meaning “magic eaters” or “sparkling waters.” The river originates in the northern Olympic Mountains and takes a meandering course westward to the Pacific Ocean.

Off Limits

This waterfall is truly amazing, especially from the bottom of the falls which is supposed to be off limits and only viewed from a platform. The platform was built to allow the environment to recover from excessive foot traffic at the base of the falls.

Envy of Another Life

This is not the famous Peter Lik tree, even though that one is not truly his tree. That tree has been photographed by many before and after it became know by that name. We would say artists like Peter Lik and Aaron Reed both have a hand in making that tree famous and we do wish to have our own version of “their” tree, in the Portland Japanese Friendship Garden one day, but we found this gem in the Washington Park Arboretum UW Botanic Gardens About The Japanese Maple Acer palmatum is a deciduous shrub or small tree reaching heights of 6 to 10 m (20 to 33 ft), rarely 16 metres (52 ft), often growing as an understory plant in shady woodlands. It may have multiple trunks joining close to the ground. In habit, its canopy often takes on a dome-like form, especially when mature. The leaves are 4–12 cm (11⁄2–4 3⁄4 in) long and wide, palmately lobed with five, seven, or nine acutely pointed lobes. The flowers are produced in small cymes, the individual flowers with five red or purple sepals and five whitish petals. The fruit is a pair of winged samaras, each samara 2–3 cm (3⁄4–11⁄4 in) long with a 6–8 mm (1⁄4–5⁄16 in) seed. The seeds of Acer palmatum and similar species require stratification in order to germinate. Even in nature, Acer palmatum displays considerable genetic variation, with seedlings from the same parent tree typically showing differences in such traits as leaf size, shape, and color. Overall form of the tree can vary from upright to weeping.

Burnside

Made famous by a video game, Burnside is a public skate park located under one of Portland’s bridges. A short walk from the skatepark offers a great skyline of downtown Portland.

Origin Unknown

Almost Paradise

This interesting and short waterfall is located just up river from the popular Ruby Falls. While this is part of the Paradise river, it is just outside of the Paradise area of Mount Rainier. On this day the entire Paradise area was in the clouds. The fog, which can be seen in the trees behind the falls, at times was so thick, visibility was as low as 100 feet.

The works - Seattle

Titans in the Mist

Conifers, also known as evergreens, are trees that keep their leaves all year. Douglas-fir is a dominate species in Pacific Northwest forests. Mature trees can be as large as 13 ft (4 m) in diameter and reach heights of 300 ft (90 m). Some Douglas-fir in the park are believed to be over 1,000 years old. The bark of older trees becomes very thick with reddish-brown, deeply-furrowed ridges. Older trees also loose their lower branches, leaving behind straight trunks. Needles are flat and bristle out around the twigs.

Through The Clouds

Myrtle’s Bridge

There are countless images of Myrtle Falls with the bridge above it and Mount Rainier in the background. However we really took to the view from the bridge looking up Edith Creek. A few wildflowers remain in bloom and the fog offered a very nice even light. Myrtle Falls was named by a former park employee, Julius Stampfler, in 1907 for a woman he meet on a guided tour.

By and By - Seattle

Known today as Alki, in 1851 the original name of the settlement was “New York Alki,” “Alki” being a word in Chinook Jargon (Wawa) meaning “eventually” or “by and by.” The name “New York” may have been chosen because it was the state of origin of several of the settlers, but was abandoned a year later.