Photo Essay: Going to Takhlakh Lake in Autumn

Leaving home in vichyssoise…

…that clears after turning east and floats over Mayfield Lake…

…and drifts in the valleys among the foothills.

Golden maples arch over the forest service road winding up through the hills…

…as Blue Lake Creek tumbles under it.

And then…Mount Adams rises majestically above her serene lake.

Huckleberries and kinnikinick show their color at the base of the lava flow…

…St. Helens and the Goat Rocks, show offs in virgin white, from the top.

Goodnight lake, see you after ice and snow cover you to slumber, then melt again; the constant cycle of seasons.

Goodnight trees bowing at my passing.

Goodnight sunlit leaves afire.

Goodnight elk grazing in cow pastures.

Goodnight Lady Rainier (or are you Adams?) peeking over fading trees.

Goodnight hang gliders drifting above Riffe Lake.

Goodnight moon watching over the planet (and over me after my clutch failed at Riffe Lake and I returned home in a tow truck).