On day 3 we drove two hours south to My Rainier National Park. Totally worth it.
Our first views of Tahoma (Rainer in white-man speak) were from Longmire Visitor Center.
It was one of those situations in which pictures don't really do the scene justice. Tahoma/Rainier is impressively huge and beautiful. It is one of a string of active volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest called the Ring of Fire. You can see many of its permanent (though shrinking) glaciers in these photos.
In the presence of this volcano and it's surrounding wilderness, it's easy to imagine (as early explorers did) that this land would always be wild, free, and untamed by man. However, the reality is that if Teddy Roosevelt had not acted to create a national parks system to protect such places as industrializing forces pushed west, we would not be able to visit these forests, rivers, and mountains as we do today.
Much of the northwest corner of the country was once covered in such wilderness. However, these old growth forest trees are valued for the high quality lumber they produce. Thousands of acres are gone already to logging, hundreds of year worth of growth (and the wildlife associated with it) gone to realize a profit in one generation. It's really, really sad to think about, isn't it? So much lost for money, as if money were the most important thing.
I am very glad for the park though. I am always impressed by how national parks balance preservation with access, protecting natural resources while fostering education and respect among the population.
This is what is important. It makes me happy.
Neat cloud formation leads to my discovery of the
Cloud Appreciation Society.
VW bus with prayer flags!
I want to live here. I took a career aptitude test in middle school that said my ideal job was park ranger. Yay government work.
A library!
Progress.
On day 3 we drove two hours south to My Rainier National Park. Totally worth it.
Our first views of Tahoma (Rainer in white-man speak) were from Longmire Visitor Center.
It was one of those situations in which pictures don't really do the scene justice. Tahoma/Rainier is impressively huge and beautiful. It is one of a string of active volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest called the Ring of Fire. You can see many of its permanent (though shrinking) glaciers in these photos.
In the presence of this volcano and it's surrounding wilderness, it's easy to imagine (as early explorers did) that this land would always be wild, free, and untamed by man. However, the reality is that if Teddy Roosevelt had not acted to create a national parks system to protect such places as industrializing forces pushed west, we would not be able to visit these forests, rivers, and mountains as we do today.
Much of the northwest corner of the country was once covered in such wilderness. However, these old growth forest trees are valued for the high quality lumber they produce. Thousands of acres are gone already to logging, hundreds of year worth of growth (and the wildlife associated with it) gone to realize a profit in one generation. It's really, really sad to think about, isn't it? So much lost for money, as if money were the most important thing.
I am very glad for the park though. I am always impressed by how national parks balance preservation with access, protecting natural resources while fostering education and respect among the population.
This is what is important. It makes me happy.
Neat cloud formation leads to my discovery of the Cloud Appreciation Society.
VW bus with prayer flags!
I want to live here. I took a career aptitude test in middle school that said my ideal job was park ranger. Yay government work.
A library!
Progress.
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