I love the Pacific Northwest and have never considered moving away, perhaps because I have had to live in different parts of the county as a child and while in the Army. I did move away from the Puget Sound area for 30 years to avoid the massive population growth, but only down the highway a few miles. If it weren’t for other considerations, I would still consider moving from Tacoma to the Olympic Peninsula.
This area is dominated by water, mountains, and evergreen trees. One of the reasons I’ve posted pictures of Mt. Rainier is because it’s unusual to actually see it, either because of clouds or simply because it’s obstructed by trees, hills, or clouds. Perhaps that explains why the following shots appealed to me so much — though certainly not enough to make me want to move there.
Here’s a shot of Morgan Lake, or, more precisely, the land surrounding Morgan Lake:
This might be referred to as Oregon’s version of Big Sky Country, a huge plateau that demands to be seen in a much larger version.
Here’s a shot taken just a few miles away, from Hart Mountain looking back to the West with the Cascades barely visible in the distance:
What probably captured my imagination was the sense of depth, and height, something not easily captured even in this larger version of the same shot.
Finally, after spending much of the day on top of Hart Mountain, I was equally impressed when I dropped down the back side of the plateau and was confronted with these cliffs
Unfortunately, even this large version does not do justice to this massive wall of rock.
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