Snjór, Snjór, Snjór!!!

I spent a wonderfully exhausting day hiking 15 miles up to the Three Lakes area and back on Friday. I marveled at the old-growth lowland forest and the size of the trees, which rivaled anything outside of the 1000-year giants of the Grove of the Patriarchs, and was truly enchanted by the discovery of a sub-alpine old-growth forest. The day was perfect for hiking, cold and damp, with a promise of more rain to come. Sure enough, I woke up this morning to rain pounding on the tent and a more typical Mt. Rainier day of low clouds and steady rain. On a hunch, I packed up and made my way up to Paradise (5400’) and was overjoyed to end up in the first snowfall of the year! What a perfect day, even though I had to leave and return to the more mundane world of my normal existence. But for a brief moment, I was in heaven, O já!