Hello, this is my first post and  I wanted to introduce myself in the best way I know how: by showing pictures of my favourite things.

I am an outdoor enthusiast and STEM graduate student. I enjoy natural science combined with outdoor adventure. I have spent the last two summers at Mount Rainier National Park, in the aquatics division. Looking back on one of my favourite summer trips, and I found some gems to share.

Early September. Started off working on wilderness monitoring at Spray Park/Mowich area of Mount Rainier, and finished with amphibian surveys at Mystic Lake. The pictures look hazy because of the Norse Peak Fire that shut down the East side of park early September, we had to approach Mystic via Ipsut, more than 4,000 feet elevation gain in extremely poor air quality. Couldn’t suck down enough water to clear the smoke out of our throats. Spent three days out in that area, and could count the number of people we saw on one hand… Needless to say one of my favourite lakes to survey at Rainier and glad the trip was able to happen even with the fire. I recommend the Wonderland trail from Sunrise to Mystic to Ipsut, my favourite leg of the 93 mile trail around the park.

Enjoy some summer pictures,  perfect training inspiration for hitting the steep hillsides next season. Plummer Peak is the sunset picture… Tatoosh has some great skiing right about now… Hope to share some winter adventures very soon.