Decay! Decay! Decaaaay!

Insects making quick work of late-season wildflowers, on the flanks of Mt. Hood.

The title, of course, comes from that seminal work of the postmodern era, Strindberg and Helium. Seriously, you should probably go watch it.  Let it bring...some...joy to the long, boring walk...through the shadowland of memory.

Halfway to the "Wedding Day"

Yours truly putting up Wedding Day, 10b, as the sun sets behind the dihedrals of Smith Rock.  For an easy route, this had a bit of  a heady crux for me.  Stood there like an idiot for a while before I could commit- sometimes a good no-hands rest is a liability!  And while I was dithering, the guy on the 12+ around the corner whipped out of his crux about five times.

Illin' & Crimpin'

MN puts on the try-hard face as she fights the notorious crimps of Smith Rock.

On the Prowl

EN and his freakish ape index silhouetted on Helium Woman, the Dihedrals, Smith Rock (Oregon!).

like rain crashing from skies

Ramona Falls, at the base of Mt. Hood.

On point(e)

The brother and I stumbled upon this rock in a precarious pose while backpacking on Mt. Hood.  Idle hiker?  One-in-a-million glacial runoff deposit?  I know I'm pulling for the latter.

Back to the beginning

Crater Lake, beautiful, beautiful Oregon.  Back after a long hiatus, full of sea change.

The Mountain Cat's Ear

Two social commentary pictures in a row?  Crazy.  Now, here is a flower.

Liliaceae Calochortus Subalpinus, the Subalpine Mariposa Lily, taken near the beginning of a circumnavigation of Mt. Hood via the Timberline Trail, with my bro.

Heart in Oregon

Dr. Doolittle

Boyfriend and a feathered friend at Crater Lake.

Inheriting the spirit of adventure

My Dad is one of the most adventuresome people I know.  He is always striving for something bigger, truer, harder, higher.  The highest point in the city, the top of the highest (accessible, relatively non-technical) mountain, the depth of the densest tome.  Arguing with him, traveling with him, is simultaneously infuriating and illuminating because he has so much drive to know and to do.  All that same desire that is present in me is there because of him.  I will never cease being impressed and inspired by my Dad.  And I hope that when I am his age I will be able to do half the things, mentally and physically, that he can.

Dad, here is to all of our past adventures and a hope that we will have many, many more.  Happy father's day!

(Special thanks to photographer-mum)

Crater Lake...so close, yet so far.

This image infuriates me.  I feel like it is so close to being really compelling, but there is something off compositionally.  Have made many assaults on it in photoshop, trying to punch up this area or that, or alter the exposure, the contrast, the saturation, etc but to no avail.  It just ends up losing the dreamy, ethereal quality of the raw image without gaining any *pop*.  So I give up- I send this thing out into the world in its untouched state, good but not great.

As far as the scene itself- man, it was beautiful.  This mist was just tumbling down off the southwest rim and the lake itself was a frigid, steely blue and everything had a thick coating of hoarfrost that sparkled in the sun...even the snowshoeing couldn't detract. 

Can you Digs it?

Today is my brother's birfday!  Huzzah!

My present to him is this reminder of a wonderful day and his (and my) favorite mountain-

From our campsite on our first night on the Timberline Trail, the 43-mileish circumnavigation of Mt. Hood.  This is right near Mudd Fork River, looking up at the west face at sunset.  This was a great day- beautiful trails, easy river fords (don't think my feet even got wet!), 16 miles covered, happy times. 

Partway down the Elliot Glacier moraine, which the previous year had been plowed by a major landslide, looking up at the north face.  Here is a reminder of a less happy day...I popped my thermarest in a blowdown, there were some moderately frightening (and frigid) glacial river crossings, I got some bonkers heal blisters, and towards the end of the day we were confronted with this washout between us and the campsite.  Now, on the near side there was a rope to facilitate the descent of the steep and unstable moraine wall, mostly sand and ash dotted here and there with large boulders that were far from solidly buried.  So the descent was no prob.  But instead of assuming that there would also be a rope on the far side (I honestly don't think it even occurred to us...not our best moment), we decided to scramble up.  It was very much a two-steps-up, one-and-a-half-steps-back, one-wrong-step-and-you-fall-thirty-feet-into-the-river kind of thing, plus the unseating of the aforementioned boulders and a constant geysering of ash and dust directly into lungs.  Kinda rough for the end of a long day backpacking.  I think it was around 8pm when we finally made it to the camp (which, it turned out, was still about a mile away and did not have water).  Not the happiest of days, but y'know, adventure!  Sibling bonding!  General epicness!

Anyway, happy birthday bro!  I can't wait until our next mountainy adventure (much soonness!).

Unwitting guest photographer!

Shot by either my mum or my dad, and starring a wee me.  Or possibly some sort of gnome.

Two Views of a Brushfire

Alpenglow on Mt. Thielsen

I'm gonna kick this off with one of the first pictures I took with a digital SLR, back in December 2007- the last rays of the sun on Mt. Thielsen, in south central OR. 

Took this picture on the way back from snowshoeing at Crater Lake (fuck snowshoeing, by the way...why slog around in some snow-swamp when you could be on skis?), hanging out the sunroof while boyfriend drove.