Day 201: With Mount Rainier rising steeply above the surrounding foothills, spring freshets such as this one on the Trail of the Shadows are common as the snow level raises and meltwater begins its inexorable voyage to the sea. Tumbling down hillsides, filling narrow defiles, cascading over root and rock, the backcountry is now a paradise of ebullient water. It sings, it laughs, it whispers, and it brings life into the meadows and forests it touches in its passage. One cannot take this enthusiasm for granted. It beckons you to pause and listen to its life story, once a snowflake, once a chip of ice cast off by a glacier. It is a celebration, jubilating in its seasonal travel; it is alive, the blood of the Earth Mother, and surging through her youthful, springtime heart among the green and mossy crevices of the Pacific Northwest.
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