I took this one as the sun was setting as we were headed down from Granite Peak.

My understanding is the the lines in this granite are like "stretch marks" created when the glacier that was sitting on it "rapidly" melted and the rock decompressed and expanded.

I can’t remember the official name for this little guy.  As a kid, we called him a "meep" because that is the sound he makes.  Actually it is rather more like a "meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep".

UPDATE: My sister came to the rescue… this is a "Pika."

When I am out hiking, old dead trees like this always catch my attention.  I always wonder what killed them.  And why do they have a little "spiral" to them?  And why do they look like they were so much taller than the trees that are there now?

I took a photo class.  It was really, really neat.  We had an assignment to take a picture of the firefighter memorial in Pioneer Square.  The day was very sunny, and I noticed when one of the shots was a bit over exposed it looked kinda smokey, so I over exposed it a bit more and went with that…

The next assignment was something "Urban".  I thought this window looked urban… and my friend inside was cute.

Finally, we had to choose our "favorite" for the day.  I liked this little fountain, especially when I took a long exposure.

Here is what I did on friday night… hiked up to the top of Granite Peak.  It was beautiful and the weather was great.

More self portraits…

A waterfall on the way up to Granite Peak…