A Sense Of Scale

Day 43: People who have lived in the shadow of the Mountain for most of their lives tend to take its dominance of the horizon for granted. At 14,410', Mount Rainier towers above the surrounding mountains and relegates 5000-6000' peaks to the category of "foothills." This relief map of Mount Rainier National Park (a fixture in the Longmire Wilderness Information Center) puts the geography in perspective. Mount Wow (foreground, left) rises almost 6000' above sea level, yet the Mountain itself dwarfs the ancient massif. The highest point accessible by car is Sunrise (6400') and it is at the very edge of treeline. Above that elevation, only the hardy alpine plants survive.

In discussions of climate change, researchers predict that the alpine zone will shrink in size as warmer temperatures allow less specialized species to creep upward. Changes in habitat will allow plants, animals and insects to expand their ranges, each thing linked in some way to another and another. Other species may die out as a result of losing the periods of cold necessary for their reproductive cycles.