freeze.

So, the following adventure takes place in the middle fork snoqualmie river valley, about 50 miles north of I-90, in an extremely remote location. it was a very early start for myself, i headed out of the house, packed with camera, snacks, water and a few other things. i accessed this area via FS-56, and then FS-5630, it took well over an hour driving down a dirt road to access this

icicles hanging from a cliff on the side of the forest road.

this was the only section of the road nice enough that i could take a picture. it is still a washboard.

middle fork river, it had snowed the night before clearly, the whole valley was in a freshly frozen state.

mushies!

frozen cliffs, but the scenery is all still very green. its the magic of the northwest.

ice crystals, they formed all kinds of amazing shapes.

they seemed to grow from the ground like any other native species in the magical cascade mountains.

the sheer rock wall face leading up to nine mile lake. maybe on a warmer day i will attempt this.

frosty ferns. the crystal growth is amazing.

the rock wall that leads to nine mile lake.

the trees that have spring up on the boulder field on the mountain side.

boulder field

kinda strange this happened, but this whole mountain side is composed of loose rock and decomposing trees. some areas are very unstable from underground streams as well.

speaking of underground streams, you can find gold in them, just in little flake form. this is one of those flakes.

trail magic.

fungal growths.

feeder streams of crystal clear water.

cascades.

one of the runoff streams from nine mile lake, running down this extremely steep ravine.

Birches and cedars.

walking like this is like walking on mattresses, just be careful where you step, as this mossy coating can decieve. it is made up of decomposing trees and has varying density, from solid, to ankle breaking holes.