Looking down...

We were on the road at 4:45 this morning, heading north to Snohomish County for a day of exploring and hiking and geocaching. We walked along the slough trails on Spencer Island and saw a family of river otters, and chatted with a man and his dog who were out for a morning walk. The man had a tripod and a huge wildlife lens on a Nikon camera, but hadn't seen anything more exciting that a lone heron.

We spent the rest of the day driving deeper and deeper into the mountains above Darrington, rewarded from time to time with a creek or river crossing, the occasional deer, and even more infrequent car or truck.

There was a cache near a bridge over a narrow granite canyon, and looking over the edge at a pair of waterfalls, I was looking straight down at the top of a fir tree that grew on a rocky ledge far below.  Without leaning way out over the railing and holding on tight, I never would have known that this was a single tree, and it was the top I was seeing, not just some branches.

Not the usual sort of lone tree I look for, and a good reminder to never take any view for granted, to always look closer.