Rippled fields of translucent snow coat the alpine tundra of Mt. Rainier National Park. Paradise lies frozen over, buried beneath a dozen feet of ice like the harbinger of some distant future ice age when glaciers once again reclaim the flower meadows and charge down forest valleys towards the sea.
Through the powder we hearty adventures set forth, past Edith Falls, no more than a gentle valley, the roar of falling water now a mere distant memory from warmer seasons. Up the hill to Alta Vista to lunch, and to record timelapse videos of the rushing shadows that dance in endless patterns before the cold, clear light of the winter sun.
Across now to views of the Nisqually Glacier, the ice feeding on fresh and nourishing snow. Down beside wind blown sculptures of ice, taking hills at a jump, as slide, and even a roll, back to the car and a long ride home at the end of a marvelous day in the mountains. The icing on the cake was that as we were driving away we passed at eye level a Cascade Red Fox surveying the road from a snowbank, making this a very special experience indeed.
