Images from Mt. Rainier

Looking up at the peak from the parking lot:





What a picnic table looks like when 5 climbers are staging their gear:





A look back at Mt. Adams from a mile or so up the trail:





Nearly full moon rising over Mr. Eclectic and me on the trail:





Camp Muir, elev. 10,188ft.(3105m) at sunrise:




Unfortunately, many of the shots are poorly exposed and/or horribly out of focus, so I'll continue weeding through them, but these are the best so far. They don't do the experience justice, but, they serve as a nice reminder nonetheless. Enjoy!

I'm BAAaaaaaack...

Like a bad penny, I've returned. It was incredible! We did not summit (this time...) because the glacier was melting out and the route had become unstable. In fact, the route we were using is now closed for the season. But we did make it to 11,400 ft elevation, which is about 3,000 vertical feet short of the summit. And there was a full moon so bright that we turned our headlamps off and continued to climb by moonlight alone. Incredible, I tell you!

I promise I will post photos as soon as I download the software to download the photos from my new camera (yay!) which I took with me -- especially for you guys. I swear, I just give, give, give...

I can't come to my blog right now...

. . . because I'm climbing Mt. Rainier! Our team leaves the bottom trailhead between 8 and 9 pm tonight (Friday), and we'll hopefully arrive at the summit near daybreak Saturday. We'll pause for photos and such, then head back down and leave the mountain sometime Saturday p.m. We plan to get a hotel on the way and not try to drive all the way home that night, but it sort of depends on what time we actually descend and how thrashed we are.

In any event, if I don't show up here in some fashion by Monday sometime, it's because I'm at the bottom of some crevasse and EXTREMELY pissed off, because that would mean I didn't get to see Squirl, who will be in my area on Monday. Mr. Eclectic and I are going to meet up with Squirl and Mr. Squirl!!

Yeah, I know... you guys are all jealous, and honestly? You should be, so that's right and proper. But, you'll just have to go find your own mountain and your own blog-sister, because this weekend Rainier and Squirl are ALL MINE!

The Enchantments

It was a lovely hike. The kind where you hardly notice exertion for the beauty of the surroundings and the ease of the companionship. Talk meanders on such outings, ebbing and flowing with the rhythm of footsteps, birdcalls and labored breath. Now and then a squirrel chastens us; his noisy chatter a caution to us or his friends, I'm never sure.

I'm resurrected out here, and I hadn't even noticed I had died. But the heart within me pulses in these wild places, to a beat it cannot sustain in town. I feel the surge of life, and my spirit startles awake from the numbing slumber induced by responsibility, schedules and stress.

Live here, I would.

File under: Not that I'd know from personal experience...

Q: Let's say you're descended from Casper the Friendly ghost. You know what happens when you lie in the sun, midday in July, and fall asleep?

A: You have really sweet dreams, and then wake up fried.

File under: Preschool and Other Hot Music Venues

Littlest Eclectic, age 4: singing/humming some little tune

Auntie Cheryl: "What are you singing, Little Man?"

Littlest Eclectic: "My favorite song. 'Sexy Back.'