WunderPhotos®

Thanks to all the commenters! WTS - I don't know what happened, but I wrote out the remainder of that last sentence. Anyway, in the center far distance you can see a "mushroom" type cloud building up behind a distant peak. It is a new plume of smoke that billowed up while we watched from one of the many forest fires burning in eastern Washington right now. Just the day before smoke had drifted west, threatening to ruin the view for us, but on the day of the hike the flow reversed and cleared out nicely the area we were in.

Thanks Canuckjune for stopping by for a view of your old home area! Yes, there are a lot of fires burning, mainly on the eastern slopes of the Cascades in Chelan and Kittitas counties, but probably elsewhere too. Lightning started a multitude of them earlier this month and the conditions just continue to make it worse - we are in a very dry spell now - even here in western Washington. If interested, here is a link to some of the latest news on the fires posted today:

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019215709 _apwawashwildfires3rdldwritethru.html

Thank you to Newenglandlight as well for the tip on why my caption was cut in half! I had no idea why that happened, but now I do - appreciate it. And thanks to all who have taken time to look at the photo and have enjoyed it. North Cascades National Park is the second-least visited national park in the lower 48, and this hike is the most popular in the quiet and wild park. The views are spectacular, especially on such a wonderful day.