Pacific Northwest

This new itinerary began in Portland, OR, and immediately headed into Washington for a visit to the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.  We continued on to Mt. Rainier, spending two nights at the Paradise Lodge, located near treeline on the great mountain’s southern slope.  After an extremely heavy late winter snow and a cool early summer, the fabled Paradise Meadows  were still mostly snow-covered on these late dates.  Next we crossed the Puget lowlands to spend three nights on the Pacific Ocean coast at Ocean Shores, Washington.  We enjoyed spectacular birding here and dragged ourselves away long enough to visit the Quinault Rain Forest, at the southwestern edge of the Olympic Mountains.  We returned to Portland via the mouth of the Columbia River and Oregon’s spectacular Ecola State Park.  I have posted a few photographic highlights; enjoy!