The Pass, the Present, and the Future…

Yet another week where I ended up having to be in Seattle. As (almost) always, the drive there and back proved to be the best part of the trip.

It is always enjoyable to get out into the days of clear skies, and just soak up the smell and feel of the area where we live. The initial climb up the East slope of the Cascades offers exceptional views…which I almost always have to enjoy in brief glances, while I drive.

I know that there are likely countless images of which I simply never catch a glimpse, especially those where trees, power lines (far too many of those…), roadside barriers, and other factors all have to perfectly line up.

Some of them, that I have happened to get the tiniest of glimpse of, exist for a small fraction of a second, when passing at (ahem) 70mph.

As always, the river views draw my attention, the most. Remember that shot of the Cle Elum River, a few days ago…?

Different view – same river. Definitely worth pursuing, at some point, this year.

The transition point in my drive, at or around Snoqualmie Pass, can be hit and miss, in terms of photo ops. Some days, the rising clouds from the Seattle side (no, not drifting clouds of exhaled vaping fumes…and other substances. The actual, natural clouds) rise up and engulf the area to thickly that you can see the trees at road level, and little else. On other occasions, the skies are actually so clear and crisp that a view of a mountain seems to lose it’s contrast and depth.

Then, there are the days like I had this week…

The clouds, as they rise up the West slope and collide with the increasingly vertical faces of the crest peaks, can make for some almost haunting effects.

More than once, when posting or sharing pics, I’ve gotten back that they can look “Hobbity,” which I take to mean that the viewer also experiences the seem feeling I was getting, at the time.

Interesting, too, when the light levels and misty intervening atmosphere seem to combine to force the images to come out as if taken in B&W…which these were not.

On the Seattle side, as time allows, I have a few places I can go to try to get pics, in the evenings.

And, as you would expect, one of them is also good for the occasional sunset.

This specific location carries very fond memories for me, too. I pull into a spot in a crescent lot, right next to a park where we used to take the kids, early in the time when we lived in the Seattle area. Interesting contrast to me, to go there so soon after our second of the three has moved out and started on her truly independent pathway.

How things change.

As I write this, my countdown app passes below 13 Days, 14 Hours, 2 Minutes, and 5.38 seconds until Fly Fishing officially begins!

I cannot wait to get back to my true home waters! I know that I almost never even see a fish on opening day (rarely warm enough for my beloved dry flies to be very effective on those high, cold, mountain rivers), but … as always … “maybe this year will be different.”

In the end, it will not matter. Far more important just to get there, immerse in nature, and disconnect for a bit while meditatively casting, just for the sake of casting.

Tight lines…