random pics that YOU have taken.......

[onlycafe]

[Racerbvd]

[RF5BPilot]

[RF5BPilot]

Puget Sound, South of Seattle

[RF5BPilot]

Snoqualmie Falls, East of Seattle
Building is an Inn with rooms overlooking the Falls.

[RF5BPilot]

Washington Cascades -- Not clouds -- Smoke

[RF5BPilot]

Lenticular clouds over Mt. Rainier.

[MT930]

[flipper35]

[Racerbvd]

[gary1101]

I have been to the mountain top! Mt Whitney that is. This past weekend I day hiked to the summit of Mt Whitney. It is not for the faint of heart or conviction. The payoff of making the summit and the incredible views was worth all the pain involved. It took 8 hours to climb and 6 hours to descend the 22 mile trial. The peak is 14,496 feet above sea level and the climb is over 6,000 feet of vertical. Hiking at that altitude is humbling but completing it is exhilarating.

[1990C4S]

Wow. Nothing else. Just that.

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

[A930Rocket]

Jeez. Now I get the picture. I kept seeing it on my laptop and couldn't figure out what it was, but on my phone, it's right side up!

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

[Evans, Marv]

gary1101. I was the USNPS ranger for the Whitney area in 1976. Used to do day patrols frequently from Crabtree R.S. on the west side, 16 miles R.T. I was up there once when a couple of guys came lugging hang gliders up to the summit. I asked them which side they were going to jump off of. They said the east face, which is USFS land. I told them that was fine since I wouldn't have to pick their splattered bodies up after they jumped off in the thin air with almost no lift. The USFS guys would have to worry about that. I was happy they decided to take their gliders back down. They must have not thought things out very well before hand. Plus I was glad I was there to discourage them. I've got hundreds of stories.

[gary1101]

Marv,

I am sure some of your stories are amazing. We ran into a family with an 11 month old at the top. It turns out the mother is Nikki Wynd a record holder in the Badwater 135 race with a time of 27 hours, 23 minutes and 27 seconds. It was their 28th day hiking. Very impressive.

[Evans, Marv]

Here's one for you. One thing I had to do was call headquarters to contact the USFS to send their helicopter to remove the trash cans with the thrones on top that made up the toilets on Whitney summit ( I don't know what is there now). They'd bring up empties & I'd hook up the full ones for them to take down to Owens Valley. The old guys from the trail crew before we had helicopters service the toilets would put on T-shirts with "The Brown Bombers" printed on front & ride their horses up there. They would take the trash cans & empty them down the mountaineer's route over the face of the summit. This was me standing at Trail Crest.

[Racerbvd]

[Scott Douglas]

[StevoRocket]

Sunbathing birds.

[strupgolf]