I don't typically take calendar-type pictures, partly for aesthetic reasons but mostly due to technical shortcomings. But if I come upon something that might qualify I'll certainly give it a shot. For a slideshow, just click a photo.

 

Newberry National Volcanic Monument - Oregon

 Newberry Lake partially fills the caldera left by the eruption of Newberry Volcano. A decent dirt road climbs five miles to the overview 

Big Bend National Park - Texas

Mexico's Sierra del Carmen looms beyond the Rio Grande, viewed via a short scramble above the Rio Grande campground

Mount Baker National Recreation Area - Washington

Deming Glacier slashes down from Mount Baker past the Black Buttes, remnants of a stratovolcano larger and much older than Mount Baker

Grand Canyon National Park

South Rim Desert Viewpoint

San Juan National Forest - Colorado

14,020 ft Wilson Peak, a moderate hike (not the climb, that would be someone else's blog) into the Lizard Head Wilderness

Death Valley National Park

Manley Beacon, a modest stroll into colorful deposits of Golden Canyon

Lake Mead National Recreation Area - Arizona

An easy stroll from Lees Ferry along Pariah River into the edge of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument

Mount Rainier National Park

A challenging hike along the Wonderland Trail yields this classic tarn reflection of the north face of Mount Rainier

Dinosaur National Monument - Utah

Green River sweeps south to meet the Yampa River amid a boggling geological collision, viewed from an easy but spectacular stroll along the Harpers Corner trail

Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area - Oregon

Latourel Falls reveals columnar basalt a short stroll from the Historic Columbia River Highway

Yellowstone National Park

An easy stroll to the travertine cascades of Mammoth Hot Springs

Medicine Bow National Forest - Wyoming

Moderate hikes from Sugarloaf Campground explore the quartzite-glowing Snowy Range 

Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park

 A grueling hike to Franklin Pass in the Mineral King section of the park attains the 11,700- foot pass across the Sierra's Great Western Divide. Look out over Kern Canyon and spot Mount Whitney on the far horizon. Nearer at hand sits this formidable peak, which I've yet to identify.

Arches National Park - Utah

Barely have to leave your car for the formations known as Park Avenue

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - Arizona

This view of Ajo Peak requires a moderate ascent up rocky desert. Gaining the 2,690-foot summit is much more challenging, but also the most spectacular desert mountain hike I know (I don't really know many).

Mount Baker Snoqualmie NF - Washington

While the vast expanses of North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker Wilderness beckon nearby, this view of Bagley Lake and Table Mountain is a light stroll from the Heather Meadows Visitors Center.

Uncompahgre NF - Colorado

A difficult hike into the Mount Sneffels Wilderness past gorgeous blue lakes and rock glaciers before ascending to 13,5000 ft. Blue Lakes Pass and views out to an array of high peaks. Another 650-foot climb summits Mount Sneffels, but this seemed like a good place to declare victory.

Big Bend National Park - Texas

Chihuahuan desert prickly pear brings color to the moderate Mule Ears trail off the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

Mount Baker Snoqualmie NF - Washington

A long hike through old growth forest along raging Elliott Creek into the Henry Jackson Wilderness eventually reaches Goat Lake, where Monte Cristo peaks loom.

Goblin Valley State Park - Utah

Hilarious goblins vie with castle-like formations in a delightful ramble from the park campground.

Olympic National Park - Washington

Majestic Big-Leaf Maple along the Hall of Mosses nature trail, one of the greatest short trails in the national park system.

Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming

The Yellowstone River cuts the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, just below Lower Falls.

Death Valley National Park - California

Wander around the Salt Creek area, lush after recent rain, with the Amargosa Range adding colorful backdrop

Lake Mead National Recreation Area - Nevada

Lake Mead used to go all the way up to the Las Vegas Campground, but now it is a couple mile stroll through abandoned lake bottom. At least it was in 2018. 

North Cascades National Park - Washington

A rigorous climb up from Cascade Pass along Sahale Arm attains this look at Sahale Peak. An even more rigorous climb reaches Sahale Glacier in the distance. 

Bryce National Park - Utah

 

An easy stroll from the campground, though weather conditions may vary.

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

An easy stroll from the Visitors Center yields a peaceful view of Mount St. Helens from the south, over a waterway carving through stuff. 

Arapaho National Forest - Colorado

Moderate hike along the Pawnee Pass trail into the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area yields this Albert Bierstadt-like view. A longer but not all that more strenuous effort reaches Isabella glacier at the base of the Continental Divide

Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park - California

Leisurely stroll through the Trail of the Sequoias

Olympic National Park - Washington

 Back to the Olympic Peninsula, this time out to the Pacific coast and Ruby Beach, an easy and popular evening gathering place

Grand Canyon National Park - Arizona

More near-roadside glory from another South Rim viewpoint

Dinosaur National Monument - Utah

A halk-mile stroll along Green River to view the Gates of Lodore, so-named by the Powell Expedition in 1869. The proposed Echo Park Dam would have flooded the canyon but the Sierra Club and others fended it off (getting Glen Canyon flooded instead).

Mount Rainier National Park - Washington

A long spectacular hike through Spray Park reaches the remnants of Flett Glacier and this monstrous view of Rainier. 

Capitol Reef National Park - Utah

Moderate hike from the Fruita campground yields this ridiculous geological display at Fremont Gorge overlook.

Yosemite National Park - California

Very strenuous ascent (into a stiff wind) to the summit of 13,000-foot elevation Dana Peak, views in every direction, including down to Mono Lake at 6,300 feet.

Uncompahgre National Forest - Colorado

Back into the Lizard Peak Wilderness and another look at Wilson Peak

Gifford Pinchott NF - Washington

Closer to sea level now, in the Lewis River Recreation Area, Lower Lewis Falls looking more picturesque on this side angle than its thunderous springtime head-on.

Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest - Washington

Challenging scramble along Sibley Ridge, used mostly by climbers heading for Eldorado Peak in the distance. Hikers stop at the steep snow fields and maybe catch an ice-axe self-arrest.

Yosemite National Park - California

Barely have to leave your car for this classic entry into Yosemite - El Capitan, Half-Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, etc.

Inyo NF - California

20 Lakes Basin, just outside Yosemite's northeast boundary, after an early season dusting 

Mount Rainier National Park - Washington

Little Tahoma from Skyscraper Mountain, a moderate hike along the Wonderland Trail out of Sunrise. Probably my favorite mountain photo

Mount Baker National Recreation Area

Back to the Black Buttes, via a short cross-country scramble from high up the Railroad Grade trail.

Deschutes National Forest - Oregon

Long, exciting hike into Three Sisters Wilderness to 9,200-foot Broken Top at the end of the Tam McArthur trail

Salton Sea State Recreation Area - California

American Pelicans abound in winter at this very troubled endorheic lake in the California desert

Oswald West and Vicinity

This post is brought to you by the generosity of my siblings, who felt an upcoming personal milestone of mine deserved some celebration. Thank you to Kathy, Patty, Brian, Colleen, and Beth. You're swell.

I reserved a hotel room for two nights on the northern Oregon coast, too far from Corvallis for useful day trips. I have been trying to relax my parsimonious ways and this seemed pretty extravagant but standards are escalating rapidly - I guess $100 is the new $39.99 - and I fell well short of utilizing my endowment. Those who wish refunds should speak up. Otherwise your gift will confer another couple of nights when I'm once more ready to venture out into the world.

My first stop was the Rockaway Beach Old Growth Cedar Preserve, a 46-acre patch of forest filled with large Sitka spruce and western red cedar, including one ancient behemoth. It also featured the hugest and healthiest skunk cabbage leaves I’ve ever seen. Just two blocks from the beach, in the middle of a residential and commercial neighborhood, it's a stunning revelation of what this entire coast once looked like.

Big Cedar

Skunk Cabbage

The Cedar Preserve was a fitting warmup for my main destination, Oswald West State Park, the site of a rare remaining stand of coastal old growth rainforest. The park is loaded with trails but I opted for a half-mile walk down a forest path past contorted Sitka spruce to Short Sand Beach, a wild beach hemmed in by coastal cliffs. Half the hikers on the trail were toting surf boards, though I didn't see many waves. Many of the surfers also had dogs which they left on the beach to guard their belongings while they were in the water. This made for unusually territorial and aggressive dog behavior, the worst I've ever seen on a beach. I was glad I didn't have Emmy with me.

Short Sand Beach

But I quibble.

I needed a more accessible beach to while away the evening and I found one in nearby Manzanita, a local beach with no facilities and barely any parking. Most of the people came by foot from the neighborhood to join me for a fine sunset in the shadow of Neahkahnie Mountain, rising 1680 feet above the beach.

Manzanita Beach

The next morning I hiked - up Neahkahnie Mountain! An early start and a lovely hike through Sitka spruce decidedly less mangled than those on the beach trail. I had been advised that there was a short scramble to get to the top but I was surprised to find myself grasping at roots and rocks while seeking to maintain a foothold beneath me. This isn’t scrambling, I thought, this is climbing, which I'd promised myself I wouldn't do anymore. Too late now, I was halfway up, all I could do was bear down to avoid a cruelly ironic backward plunge a mere month before the celebrated event. Happily I got to the top and immediately spotted the trail I should have scrambled up, saving me what would have been a precarious descent.

View From Neakahnie Mountain - Mouth of Nehalem River and beyond

Just noon now and I got to my next destination, Hug Point State Recreation Site, where low tide had opened up the beach to extensive cliff exploration. Sea caves, a waterfall, thick walls of mussels, and the delightful patterns the water forms in the sand as the tide begins its return.

Hug Point

I love the mussel visuals but wouldn't dream of plucking a few off the wall to enjoy for lunch. Apparently some do, as that very day the State of Oregon closed the entire Oregon coast to mussel harvesting after at least 20 people became sick after eating mussels from two beaches, one of which was Hug Point. They were experiencing symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning, which include "numbness of the mouth and lips, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness and in severe cases shortness of breath or irregular heartbeat." An unknown number were hospitalized, but the state health department said there were no reported deaths.

My northernmost destination was Ecola State Park, where I thought to spend the rest of the day at the renowned Indian Beach. Regrettably this entailed driving through Cannon Beach, a famously artsy beach town of narrow streets and pedestrian multitudes seeking to cross them. The whole place gives me a headache and I would forever avoid it except it is the only way to get to Ecola State Park and I wanted to give that one last try.

On my last visit I had driven to its famous ocean view, a great view for sure but then you pretty much turn around and drive out. This time I drove to its other vaunted destination, Indian Beach, like the viewpoint a narrow winding road through lovely forest but again no place to stop along the way. Before I put down my $5 parking fee I wanted to make sure it would be a good place to while away the rest of the day. It was not: crowded, lines for the bathroom, picnic tables practically in traffic, a long walk down to the beach. Signs pointed out the spots where scenes from various movies and TV shows were shot. I drove back out the lovely road and made my way back through Cannon Beach, very likely for the last time.

Rather than driving back on Highway 101 I left town on the coast road and soon stumbled into Tolovana Beach, and it had everything I wanted. Loads of parking, properly located picnic tables, a rest room and easy access to the beach. I arrived at about three and stayed until sunset six hours later. It also featured a seafood restaurant and I figured what the hell: think of all I'm saving on my $100 room. I ate my cod sandwich and a side of coleslaw out at the park picnic table, $18 and I was still peckish. That doesn't happen with a buy-one-get-the-second-for-a-dollar McChicken. Just saying.

The beach extended all the way to Cannon Beach and after a refreshing nap (OK, I was a little cranky), I enjoyed a long slow stroll on a beautiful evening up to Haystack Rock, the coast's dominant landmark. The beach was surprisingly quiet until just before sunset when people poured out of their hotel rooms to record their vacation memories, all devices pointed to Haystack Rock. (Perhaps they stayed inside all day because they hadn't heard that the apparently very busy Oregon health department had just removed its warning of high fecal bacteria levels at Tolovana.)

Tolovana Beach

Haystack Rock

I had hoped to spend the third day exploring a few of the many small rivers draining the coast range into the ocean, but as is becoming increasingly common my itinerary exceeded my capacity for itinering. I did poke around at a couple of them and then headed home, satiated.

Nehalem River

Wilson River

Thanks again everyone

Love, Terry