Larch Mountain

Several years about I heard about a place where you could see the entire mountain range, including Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainer. For years I kept telling people I wanted to go to Larch Mountain, but no one ever took me. So one Saturday I decided to drive up there myself. Now I'd done a little bit of research, but had no idea it would be a 14 mile drive through a forest before I'd get to the parking lot . . . then I had to find the trail that let to the lookout.

 After walking a bit down the trail I came to the base of some stairs . . . so up I went.

 The view from the top of the first set of stairs was breathtaking!!

It didn't matter which direction you looked there was a fantastic view.

 After climbing the last set of stairs I had a great view of Mt. Jefferson, which was only 62 miles away. However there was enough cloud cover (and smoke from wildfires in Washington) that I was unable to see any of the other mountain peaks. I guess I'll just have to go back!!

 I always find it amazing when I see what appear to be fragile plants growing out of rocks.

Finally the sun started to set and cast a beautiful light on Mt. Jefferson.

However, when I turned around I saw the most beautiful sunset, over the Columbia River Gorge. Watching this sunset felt like being in a dream. I took several pictures, to capture the changing colors. 

 I love the sun rays above the clouds in the above photo. The last photo is my favorite . . . I may have to print this one for my living room wall.