A little day hike in January

The morning view from my studio seemed to promise a rain-free day, which is rare this time of year on the west side of the Cascades.  A good day for a hike on Tiger Mountain, even though we won't see snow. The El Nino weather phenomenon has caused the warmest January on record.  It kind of put a crimp in the snow shoe opportunities around here.

Still, the filtered sunlight on ferns and mosses in springlike weather is magical. On a weekday the trail is quiet and secret.  The air is clean and sweet and seems to glow like stained glass in scattered sunlight.  Everywhere there are beautiful things to see, close and distant.  And even if it hasn't been a good year for snow shoe trips or ice climbing, it has been a year for beautiful ferns, mosses and fungi.

These are polyphores growing on a mossy alder log.  A beauty all its own.