Silver Star

Christina and I had the chance to Hike Silver Star Mt. this past Tuesday with some friends, and all I can say is that it was beautiful.  The clouds hadn't burned off yet when we started out, but that's actually the best conditions for photographing flowers and stuff.  By the time we reached the summit, it was sunny--good for getting a really good view.     

There were so many wildflowers!  The meadows were covered in yellow, orange, red, white and blue.

Cute bumblebee.  There were lots of bees, butterflies, and normal old annoying flies. 

A cool creepy-crawly.   Also known as a centipede--wait, or is it a millipede?

The butterfly that I "saved." Caitlin was going to keep it, but I took pity on it, and she let it go.

Tiger Lilly

Paintbrush

I should mention that one of the main goals of the trip was for our two "butterfly people," Caitlin and Braden, to catch lots of butterflies.  It was a perfect place; there were butterflies everywhere.  

The view from the summit is amazing--you can see four, maybe five, white-capped peaks.  It was a little hazy and the clouds kept covering up the peaks, so they're kind of hard to see in these pictures.

They're hard to see, but on the horizon are, l. to r. Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams 

Mt. Hood

Mt. Adams

The whole group together