KellieB.'s photostream  

The Skate Creek area is still one of my favorite places in the state. It's great in fall, but I particularly like it in the early summer. The lush greens lining the creek and road really can't be beat.

Ruby Falls is a lovely waterfall as a whole, but when you really check out the details of it, it's pretty much amazing.

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I made a spur of the moment decision to head up to Mt Rainier on Saturday, the weather was nice and with the late snowmelt I figured there might be some nice wildflowers to shoot. The problem was once I got to the gate, I handed the ranger my pass who smiled and said, "It's a free weekend so you can just hang onto that."
Groaning to myself, I made my way up to Paradise. Every trailhead I passed was overflowing with vehicles - this was a bad sign and I knew it. Paradise was a joke. The parking lots were completely full with many people driving around, cars were parked well into the Valley.

Heres the thing; being around hoards of people makes me incredibly anxious. Especially if I'm taking photos because I'm sure I look stupid doing it and I'm afraid I'll get in someones way. I know Paradise is not the place to go for solitude on any given day but this was madness. At one point I looked across the valley back up at Paradise, and it looked as if there were a ton of little ants crawling all over the trails.

I decided to spend some time on the Paradise River instead of hiking. These were places that I'd stop at while hiking long the Lakes Trail, or on the way home but never spending more then a few minutes with.

I ended up have a fairly peaceful day, my shooting only being interrupted once. No, I didn't get any hiking in, nor any wildflower shots, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Wednesday.