The first snow of the season has begun decorating the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, and my brother John and I figured we should survey Chinook Pass across the shoulder of Mount Rainier before it closes for the winter. We spent yesterday on our motorcycles doing just that.

State Route 410 starting in Enumclaw led the way up the hill. The weather was brisk, but the sky was clear, and the road was bare and dry, except for a two‐foot strip of ice crossing the lane, dead in the geometric center of a sharp right turn just before Tipsoo Lake. Both of us spotted the ice, slowed down, stood up our bikes, and made it past with just a bit of sideways slip from our rear wheels. The thermometer on my bike indicated 34°. A few minutes later, John was taking the spectacular photo seen at the top of the page. Note the lenticular cloud in the upper right, which conceals Mount Rainier.

The far side of Chinook Pass began just a few hundred yards beyond the lake and featured almost no snow, making plain how the mountains affect the weather by wringing the precipitation from the clouds. We eased on down the hill and, as we neared Naches, made a right turn onto U.S. Route 12 in the direction of White Pass. The final leg of our trip around the mountain began at Packwood on Forest Service Road 52, which meanders along Skate Creek and the Nisqually River to eventually join State Route 706 outside Ashford.

FR–52 is notorious for its challenging surface. Although the road is entirely paved, it is very uneven. I kept the Yamaha under good control for its entire length except for one dip in the grade just as I was shifting my weight for a left sweeper in the shadow of the trees — the bike fell into the dip I had not seen, came right back up, bounced my ass off the seat, and tried to take the handlebars away from me. It pissed me off.

I need no reminder that I live in a beautiful part of the world, nor that I am fortunate I have the means to get out and see it; have a brother who shares my love of this place; who also owns a motorcycle. But, although I need no reminder, I am certainly happy to regularly go out and get one. Yesterday included. Wow.