Blue mountains

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

 The Olympics are blue, backlit by the orange sunset.

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Mountains and ferry

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

Aren't we lucky to live here?

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Mountain View

 

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

I thought you might like to start your day with a view of the Olympics.

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Morning is breaking

Photo by Jan Hansen

Puget Sound is still in pre-dawn darkness, a heavy cloud layer hangs west of the Kitsap Peninsula, and The Olympics glow in the sunrise.

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Our Olympics go year-round

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

The Olympics with the medals has wrapped up - but we still have our Olympics and they have a new coat of snow.

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Mount Baker in the sunshine

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

These recent sunny days have afforded some great views, like this one of Mount Baker from the Edmonds waterfront.

I did a little Googling to see if I could find a simple explanation of why it always looks like the top is flat. All I really figured out is that it's a volcano and our view is from a previous eruption that took off part of the peak.

I was surprised to find that Baker is a lahar, just like Rainier. These volcanoes don't erupt, they heat up and melt the massive depth of snow cover, which mixes with the earth and creates a enormous mudslide.

Rainier's last lahar ended up in Puget Sound. Baker's changed the course of a river.

No one expects either to erupt any time soon and both are heavily monitored, just to be sure.

--Diane Hettrick

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Layers of land and cloud

 

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

This photo shows clearly the different layers of land and cloud as most photos of the Olympics do not.

In the foreground are the hills of Kitsap county and the ferry headed toward Kingston.

Behind the hills, a layer of clouds collect in Hood Canal. After that you see the jagged foothills of the Olympics, and then the high peaks of the Olympic Mountains.

One year a mid-western friend came to visit and I was touring him around. We were standing on a dock on the Seattle waterfront and talking. He had his back to the water.

I looked over his shoulder and saw an absolutely magnificent view of the jagged Olympics, covered with snow and not a cloud in sight, apparently dropping into the waters of Elliott Bay. 

I was afraid that if I didn't turn him around right then, the clouds would roll in and the mountains would be gone.

He was a talker and was on a roll. I was so stunned at a view I had never seen before, that I just pointed and made inarticulate noises.

He turned around and said "Good Lord! Are those the Cascades?"

No, I said "Those are The Olympics and they are only in Washington state."

That's one way to impress out of town guests.

--Diane Hettrick

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Mt. Baker

Mt. Baker on December 30, 2025
Photo by Lee Lageschulte

Mt. Baker is visible from many places locally - most locations along the Salish Sea and higher elevations. The buildings at South Echo Lake complex have excellent views.

Mt. Rainier, which is still the hometown favorite, is only visible from the freeway.

The Olympics are always available for viewing if there are no clouds.

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Misty Mountains

Photo by Lee Wolfe

For at least the last month, views of the Olympics have been obscured by fog and smoke haze. It was a pleasure to see them again Thursday evening as the mist lifted.

Lee Wolfe

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Olympic mountains

Olympic mountains
Photo by Lee Lageschulte

Lee Lageschulte took advantage of a sunny day to capture this view of the Brothers (to the left) in the Olympic range from the Edmonds waterfront.

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Travels with Charlie: Cascades Basking in Clear Sunlight with Fresh Snow

Cascades basking in the sunlight
Photo by Gordon Snyder

By Gordon Snyder

Caught this view from our neighborhood as Charlie and I headed somewhere? To the east, the Cascades were basking in the clear sunlight with their blanket of fresh snow. These mountains sure need more snow up there… And we don’t have much snow around here.

Charlie was glad to be out
Photo by Gordon Snyder

We did find a little patch of snow but that's hardly enough to get Charlie's snow sniffing turned up. But, he was glad to be out there...

Nice to be out in this clean cold air. Get outside for a breath if you can.

Cheers,
Gordon Snyder

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The mountains were out

Mountains on Monday
Photo by Lee Wolfe

This time it was mountains (plural). After days of gray clouds that made the short days even shorter, the skies were clear and the Olympic mountains were visible for Monday's sunset.

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Snow on the Olympics

Photo by Lee Wolfe

The first snow of the year and the Olympics finally look like they are supposed to!

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

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The Brothers

 

The Brothers
Photo by Jan Hansen

I spent an entire semester of a high school English class staring out the window at The Brothers. The classroom had tall windows with small panes. My desk was in the front row, right in front of the window.

If I positioned myself just right, I could frame The Brothers in one of the small panes - my own private art piece.

It was a slightly different - and closer - view than this one. The Brothers were the most prominent mountains from my part of Puget Sound.

The English class was boring but the mountains were beautiful and it still makes me happy to see them.

--Diane Hettrick

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Scenic SR 20 North Cascades Highway now open

SR 20 North Cascades Highway opened after its annual winter closure on Friday, April 19.
Photo courtesy WSDOT

Following a final avalanche control mission on Monday, April 15, 2024 WSDOT reopened SR 20/North Cascades Highway on Friday morning, April 19. 

This section of SR 20 from milepost 134 to 171 closes every winter due to safety and access concerns. The road closed for the winter on November 30, 2023; spring clearing began March 25.

The 33-mile long North Cascades Highway is sometimes referred to the as the “North Cross” as the northernmost east-west route over the Cascade mountains.

Even with the highway reopened for the season, travelers should be prepared for the potential for snow and ice while traveling through the mountain passes and should keep in mind that many of the United States Forest Service and National Park Service facilities have not yet opened for the season. 

WSDOT crews will clear the road and shoulder and any pullout areas needed for maintenance work, but otherwise, there are few facilities open and no cell service through the mountain passes.

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Scene on the Sound: Early morning mountain view

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

A rosy sunrise on the Olympics, the Edmonds ferry, and water looking like textured cloth. Sometimes it's worth it to get up and out in the early morning.

 

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Scene on the Sound: Mountains, cargo ship, ferry, and clear shies

 

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

An Evergreen cargo ship, a Washington state ferry, and the Olympics looming in the background - an action packed shot. Not only that, the normal haze is gone.

The peak is called "The Brothers" because of the double peak.

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Photo: Poem

Sunrise over the Olympics
Photo by Lee Lageschulte

Life

Looking back through my life I see a hallway,

A kind of byway with doors to rooms once opened up

Where I lived, worked, and enjoyed my skills.

Now as I pass by I remember

Those rooms I can no longer reenter

And long to relive the good times, the thrills.

But I am instead pulled along, can't stay,

Through the passageway of time day by day.

There are the rooms of loved ones who've passed on,

The room of taking my health for granted

The room of music I can no longer hear,

The room with my favorite pet

No longer purring in my ear.

A building remodeled, unrecognizable.

A home now bulldozed, a loss that was sizable.

But you can't revisit the rooms as before,

For time is not meant to repeat itself,

For what purpose, why?

Work with whatever you do have left,

Your health, your eyesight, and memories.

Show the fullness of a lifetime in prose.

Write a memoir, paint a picture, tell your stories.

Moving inevitably toward the open lighted doorway

At the end of the hall,

You still have goals, you have it all.

You've been forged in all kinds of weather

Whether sun, wind, rain or snow.

Now bring it all together. Call it afterglow?

The lighted doorway awaits your arrival.

A good life was your fate.

Now let others know

And step up to the plate.

Vicki Westberg December 7, 2023

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Nature has her own color palette

 

Photo by Lee Lageschulte

The cities may be lighting up in orange, but M. Nature has her own colors. The first snowfall of the season made the Olympics suitable for framing.

WSDOT is talking about closing the northern passes in the Cascades but so far has kept the roads plowed. 

The City of Shoreline is conducting snowplow driver training, so don't be alarmed to see snowplows traveling the streets.

We are equipped with six trucks fully outfitted with plows and spreaders dedicated to snow removal and ice control. We have stocked approximately 8,000 gallons of liquid calcium chloride and 200 tons of rock salt and ready to aid the snow and ice removal efforts. 

While the City is responsible for plowing and salting most city streets and bike lanes, residents, business owners, and property owners have responsibilities too. These include clearing sidewalks of snow and ice. For more information on this and our primary and secondary plow routes, go to shorelinewa.gov/stormready 

--Diane Hettrick

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The last sunset of summer

 

Photo by Mike Remarcke

Yes. Summer is officially over. Saturday is the first day of fall. 

Mike Remarcke decided to see how the other half lives and photograph the Olympics instead of his usual Cascades.

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