Taylor Westphal Photography: July 2010

Forgotten Meadows, again.

I know, I went here once already this year, in February. I almost went back a third time the next day... Phoebe's wallet grew lags (intentionally misspelled) and jumped out of her pack somewhere on the hike. She called the ranger station and they said no luck yet, then at 11:30 the night before I get a text saying she was contacted by someone who found it! Phew... honesty is the best policy kids, everyone wins.

Never been here in mid-summer, always interesting to see how different places are around the year... this hike happens to be fairly brushy, no shortage of stinging neddles and devils club.

Since I have like 2 dozen pictures of this waterfall already, I figured I would do something a little offbeat... also, I love the little mini-ivy on the right.

Same ol' same ol'.

Oh snow.

My favorite Volcano

Del Campo and polarized clouds.

The always fun hero shots.

Proof I was even there. Plus Mt Baker in the bottom left.

Parts of the talus slopes I measured earlier this year were completely covered in ferns....I mean completely! It was nuts.

The Silver Lake fastpacking experiment

I finally got my ultra small neo-air sleeping pad, which means that I can now go backpacking with a large daypack (my sleeping bag and bivy are already the smallest and lightest available). So with my approximately ~25 pound backpacking load (that's including my heavy camera gear) we zipped up to Silver lake from Monte Cristo, which is a hike I've been meaning to do for quite a while. Too much snow to continue on to Twin lakes, which is supposed to be twice as gorgeous (har har). Maybe later...

Also, these were slated to be the two hottest days of the year so far, topping 90 on the west side here (craaaaazy). We were sweating bullets hiking up there, but the ice cold water was a treat.

Anyway, like the all the hikes in this area, the trail itself is both punishing and scenic.

Some crazy spires.

Poodle dog pass.... no idea why it's called that... must be something about those goofy turn of the century miners.

What in Tarn-ation!?!?

This was in fact, the only cloud in the sky.

I found some sweet quartz with pyrite in it right after I took this.

Ahh yes, night... respite from the heat at last.

Crazy spinning sky.

The galaxy.

The lake

This is one of those times when I whimsically bent over, set the camera on a rock (instead of pulling out the tripod) and took the picture. I didn't take any more because the first one turned out perfect.

Relics of a bygone era.

Road hike.

A panorama from the highest point I climbed (scouting the twin lakes trail).

The ultra trim backpacking system worked ok, but in the future there are things I won't skimp on, like the bear can.... but I'm excited for other trips this year... carry less, be happier.

Nason Ridge + Merrymoor = Summer, at last

Instead of being sociable for the 4th of July, I went hiking with Margot, one of the few people I can be completely open and honest with. Turned out to be the ONE cloudy-ish day, but got some great recon... I'm definitely going back to complete this hike sometime this year.

Imagine this same trail with gorgeous mountains everywhere in sight instead of white.

Typical Cascade metamorphics...always fun to look at.

Flowers and such

We went to Merrymoor one fine evening to teach Kim how to belay, and obviously to go and be active in the nice weather.

Me being a dweeb with my badass oakleys.

I always forget that the park has enough relief to see rainier from the top of the pinnacle.

I didn't actually intend to line up this shot like it is, but it worked out really well. Sometimes you just get lucky....

The lip-bite of concentration.... or frustration with the lens in her face? We may never know.

Hunter with his hillbilly college hat.

There was a guy there who obviously climbs a lot....

Who is that studmuffin?

I prefer to be in nature, but Merrymoor has such great bold colors, especially during golden hour.

Climbing (etc) in June, etc.

I've been so busy getting out, that I haven't blogged about getting out in a while.

In June there was some rock climbing, and kayaking. As always, these are just my top choices for displaying, many more photos can be found in the respective flickr sets.

First was exit 38, which kicked off the start of the REAL summer, with the sun coming out and even a bit of oppressive heat. Some great 'epic' shots came out of the day. Here, Kim's first rock climb EVER.... (I break'em in the hard way ;) and she did awesome)

Gloria, who also did awesome.

Kenny, who doesn't really like climbing, but he did great regardless.

And this guy, who kinda sucked in general.

Flying chipmunks!

It takes two girls to belay my fat ass. Also, Micky with the most hair she's had since she was young.

Next up was kayaking in Lake Union. I rented a sit on top kayak, which is approximately 293 times more comfortable than a normal one. Also, it seems half the houseboats are pretty scuzzy, and half are really nice (like this one). Yes, my legs sunburned.

Steve wanted an ultra cliche seattlite picture...

Kinda like urban decay, but not.

My favorite from the day.

Then off to Leavenworth to find more oppressive heat, harder climbing, and general tomfoolery.

Kim's second day of climbing, a badass and very difficult 5.9.