An autumn day on the Foothills Trail along the Carbon River.

Don't take the bait. Stay calm. Don't respond. Without confrontation they have no power. We keep living our beliefs everyday to create the kinder world.

Before the weekend storms at Paradise, Mount Rainier NP

No Kings Olympia WA. 100% peaceful ✌️ No count yet but it was as packed as last time!

A misty fall morning in Millersylvania State Park

Nosotros En Naturaleza is a nonprofit dedicated to connecting and empowering underserved youth in South King County to the majesty of Washington’s outdoors. In 2024 alone, they led 13 hiking trips with LatinX young adults. Learn how they're getting outside with some help from WTA 🌲

For #BirdOfTheDay here is an American Robin and House Sparrow sharing a bath. The Robin appears to be chewing out the Sparrow for invading its space, and the Sparrow has a "What did I do?" look on its face. 🪶

The degree to which those comments can undermine public health, do harm to women who are pregnant, create anxiety for parents who do have children who are autistic – is violence against the truth.

Fun with slugs!

#DroughtMonitor 9/23: Drought worsened in every state east of the Miss River (except WI & DE). But rain did improve parts of some of these states. West: In general, the Southwest improved. The Northwest worsened. #Drought2025 Footprint: 36.4% of US drought.gov

And for now, the Supreme Court has signed off on such dubious practices without an explanation. Every American, including those who want tougher enforcement of our immigration laws, should demand that ICE does its job in a way that protects the rights of all Americans.

Here’s a story that’s becoming all too common: federal immigration agents using racial and ethnic profiling as a rationale for stopping, questioning and detaining U.S. citizens who they suspect are undocumented.

Some fun photos from Mason Lake

One of the locals at Burroughs Mountain, MRNP

Staircase Rapids before the Bear Gulch fire. 8500 acres burned so far. I'm sure it looks so different now. Olympics NP at Lake Cushman.

A pleasant stroll at Ellis Cove

Some fun on the PCT near Pickhandle Gap, Crystal Mountain

Shady Lane, Staircase, Olympic NP

Striped coralroot (Corallorhiza striata) What's that in the upper right flower? This is on the Wonderland Trail between Longmire and the Carter Falls at Mount Rainier NP.

This tiny white flower grows at the feet of giant Douglas Fir and Cedar trees on the Trail of the Giants. Inside-out flower Vancouveria hexandra

A nice day at Woodard Bay.

More photos from Staircase Rapids

A sunny Sunday at Staircase Rapids in the green forest of Olympic National Park.

A stroll along the pleasant Big Creek Loop. It has nice waterfalls, trees and flowers. A great place to relax in nature

A sign of getting older; when AARP sends membership offers to your kids.

A beautiful spring day at Billy Frank Nisqually NWR. Got lucky to get a good visit with Harry the eagle at the first lookout shelter.

First trillium blooming in the local park. Might actually be spring!

At the peaceful HandsOff protest against Trump and Musk's destruction of our lives security. Estimates of over 5000 people came. ABC reported over 1200 protests and 5 million nationwide. All peaceful. No damage. No injuries. No Capitols breached. Unlike another protest I can think of...

Signs of spring

I see the full moon rising in the east now. Given today's wacky weather I'm pleasantly surprised to see it through a gap in the clouds. Maybe it could happen at 11:30 during the full eclipse!

Spectacular! Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and crescent moon just before sunrise. 📸 Ren Theelen

A sunny day and a wonderful redwood tree. It's nice to have the forest nearby.

Please follow the link to the article to participate in emailing your representative and senators and sign WTA's petition to restore staff and funding to the National Parks National Forests and outdoor recreation at treasured natural landscapes.

WTA's policy and planning manager Michael DeCramer has traded out his hiking boots for a suit and traveled to Washington, D.C. on behalf of the thousands of hikers who've called for last week's mass firings of #ForestService and #NationalParkService firings to be reversed. Learn how you can help 🌲

Summerland, Mount Rainier NP

In their @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social op-ed, Washington Trails Association CEO Jaime Loucky and Mountaineers CEO Tom Vogl call upon representatives to ensure the safety of Washington’s public lands and the people who visit them by reversing the recent staffing cuts on federal lands.

@washingtontrails.bsky.social Yay! WTA is on Bluesky!

In case you missed it this week: Registration for WTA's backcountry #volunteer trips opens Feb. 21, mass reductions in public land manager staff is putting trails at risk, WTA's #LoveLocalTrails giveaway is almost over and more. Check it all out on this week's edition of Hiker Headlines.

Friendship is a sheltering tree - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Waking up to a little bit of snow! I'm sure the roads are icy.

A timely thought youtu.be/w_inXx-J3nU

My photography method is point and hope. For 2024 I got lucky! Here are a few of my favorite flower photos. Cusick's Veronica, Columbian Monkshood, Tiger Lilly, Calypso orchid.

My happy place. Well, one of them. The east side of Mount Tahoma from Summerland meadow.