Lofty views, resilient creatures, and splendid isolation. It’s in the mountains where I feel most at home. The three national parks in my Washington State backyard - Olympic, Mount Rainier, and North Cascades - provide endless opportunities for discovery and delight.
Alpine animals face some wicked challenges in this extreme environment, but deftly defy them. Those that can, vacation in the lowlands during winter. Others sleep the season away in hibernation. But the hardiest cope with conditions year-round through toughness and tenacity.
Female mountain goat and her kid perch on rocks in Olympic National Park
Mountain goat poses on rocks on the shores of Ingalls Lake in the central Cascade mountains
Mountain goat nanny guards her lamb in Olympic National Park
Raven soars above Mount Tahoma in Mount Rainier National Park.
Clark's nutcrackers survey their mountain home.
Starlings hitch a ride on a bison.
Bull moose in fall Tetons.
Bull moose takes a break after defending cows during the rut.
Grizzly taking a break from foraging for roots in the Tetons.
Twin moose calves watch as their mother is courted by a bull during the rut.
Pronghorn portrait.
Cow moose chilling in the Snake River.
Trio of bull moose at dusk in the Tetons.
A tender moment between mom and baby.
Female pronghorn on the move.
Eye-to-eye with a gorgeous moose cow.