That’s Mount Ellinor (located in the Olympic National Forest) at the top – taken from the final staging area:

This is my nephew Nick with me admiring Mount Rainier in the distance from the final staging area:

Headed up The Chute with Lake Cushman in the background… Right above where this picture was taken you have to start scrambling essentially straight up the cliff face:

I snapped these pictures on the way up The Chute. Yeah, that is the kind of terrain we’re climbing straight up:

I was the first one to make it into this bowl and startled a mountain goat that was hanging out in here:

This is the back side of the bowl:

I climbed out along the edge of this cliff for quite a ways before realizing that I was setting a bad example for Nick and turning back:

More pictures I took on the relentless climb up:

Another view of Rainier:

Success! Me on the Ellinor summit at 5,944 Feet:

The view from the top:

The spotting scope allowed us to get some great views of Seattle:

Life can survive practically anywhere:

Starting back down:

We took a much easier route down the mountain:

Quintessential Pacific Northwest: