At home in the woods

Julia's self portrait in Mt. Rainier National Park.

Since I'm in travelogue mode, I thought I'd report on my daughter's backpacking trip to Mt. Rainier and give you a little taste of wilderness camping through her photos. She's been backpacking since she was a toddler (with a cute little pink backpack), but this was her first solo trip. She just got back yesterday and said she wished she could've stayed longer.

She LOVED the peace and solitude

Here's her long shot of Mt. Rainier. Below are some of the trail choices.

And here is her private little campsite, where she stayed for three nights.

Home Sweet Home

She took this book, "At Home In the Woods" by Vena and Bradford Angier, which I read when I was about her age. (I just saw that a used paperback version is offered on Amazon for almost $43. I bought mine new for $1.95 about 30 years ago.)

She used her cooking pot lid as a mirror to take her photo.

And here's the kitchen setup. She even labeled the bag with which day's meal it contained, an organizational tip she learned from her dad on long canoe trips.

When she's not cooking or eating, the food is hung high up on the bear pole. She didn't see any bears, just deer and birds.

More photos of her "home in the woods."

She calls the photos of herself gazing out at the wilderness her "Jerry Derbyshire self portraits," for our late friend Jerry http://www.geoarts.net/, who was a fantastic nature photographer. He died the year after Julia was born, but she knows his photographs from his books and this self portrait he took in Scotland that we have hanging at home.

Jerry Derbyshire's self portrait in Scotland.

Julia's self portrait in Mt. Rainier.

Have a peaceful day