Mount Rainier. If you live in Washington State, you usually just refer to it as 'the mountain'. The others have names. If Rainier met the same fate as Mount St Helens, half the people in Puget Sound would move away and the lost property values for a good view of Rainier would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. It's one of the major tourist attractions, run by rather militant National Park rangers.

I have no problem with their militancy. These days, with the number of visitors they get at the park each year, they have to be militant. They are far outnumbered and trying to protect a vast wilderness from the heavy presence of humans. They do a pretty good job.

However, I'm not a park kind of guy. I like to skirt its edges, tease its borders, and climb up as high as I can for the best view and do some good camping away from people.

North of the park is good. In the Greenwater area are a complex series of Forest Service roads leading into the backcountry, and if you know the way, you can have a lot of fun. I've been going up Forest Service roads since 1972.

One of my favorite places is north of the park. Forest Service roads reach a pretty good altitude, and you can hike in closer if you wish. All of the pictures in this article were taken last October before the snows hit, from a campsite at the end of the road. This place is so nice, I used it for some scenes in a book.

The weather can change within minutes, though.

The three 'fog pictures' you see were taken fifteen minutes apart in total. Two in the first five minutes, and then the last one ten minutes after that. Visibility eventually dropped to less than ten feet.

Writing in the mountains is always a good thing. You can get real inspired up there, but you're better off just jotting ideas and outlines, rather than trying to do any REAL writing. Mother Nature can give you good ideas, but if you ignore her and try to do real work, she flaunts her charm and off you go on a day hike.

Then when you return, you're hungry. Cooking takes time, and then pretty soon it's dark. Maybe you think about a good fire, some relaxation, and then bed. Good plan.

Jot down those notes before you go to sleep, though. And get some good pictures. That way, you won't forget those inspirations when you have to go back to the real world.