PNW Week: The Mountain is Out

The Mountain is Out

By: Amanda Jane

For some reason Seattle made my soul restless. It never felt like my home, just a space I was awkwardly borrowing until I was beckoned back home. No matter how hard I tried to love it, it just never felt like it was mine. As we drove our moving truck out of town for the last time I realized the only two things I would really miss deep down inside were sea glass and Mt. Rainier.

Although I’m a Rocky Mountain girl at heart, the majesty of Mt. Rainier was never lost on me. Whether flying above it’s snow capped craters or spying it through a thick hazy fog it always had this ethereal, painted-into-the-sky quality about it. Despite being born and raised nestled in the heart of many jagged mountain peaks I've come to think of that hulking, mountain, volcano as the most powerful, stand-alone peak of them all. There was truly something mystical about Mt. Rainier (not the least of which was it’s designation as one of the world’s deadliest volcanoes.) Like some kind of natural optical illusion Rainier has the ability to look the same size from downtown Seattle as it does thirty-miles away. Because Mt. Rainier is so much taller than any other peak in the Cascade range, it rules the skyline, leaving every other peak surrounding it basically forgotten.

Washington has a reputation for being perpetually gloomy, so when you actually catch a glimpse of Rainier it signifies an extra special kind of day. Just like the forgotten Cascade peaks Washingtonians also bowed down to the queen of the natural skyline- Seattle landmarks like the University of Washington and the Space Needle were built so that they would frame Rainier when she was visible. For all the holes Seattle didn't fill in my soul I always found beauty in the way that when “the mountain was out” it signified an especially beautiful day. Because of her ever-present size and scope it sometimes felt like Rainier ruled the weather and only came out when she felt like it, rather than the other way around. In a place that so often made me feel so out of place, seeing Mt. Rainier brought me out of my own haze and gave me a reason to feel connected.

Old photo of Mount Rainier framed by the Court of Honor at UW:

Photo found here

Pictures taken by Amanda:

If you live in Seattle and are too busy to look out the window... here's a twitter account that lets you know "Is the mountain out?", CLICK HERE