![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/08\/ice-field.jpg\" "\\"OLYMPUS")
<\/a>Under the clouds lives an ice field, high at the top of the mountain range. Most of the glaciers have disappeared in this park like they have in so many places around the world.<\/p><\/div>\n
Heading down the hill, we entered a shaded world lushly carpeted with green in every shade.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Tall conifers make the canopy of shade. Breaks in the canopy make pockets of light. And everywhere, moss carpets the ground, rocks, downed trees. It is like viewing the world from inside an Emerald.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The trail follows the contour of a hillside, high above the forest floor. Hidden beneath the moss, two large boulders with small trees starting to grow.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Looking back up the trail, the trees seem to go on forever. Would that it were so. This type of woods is highly endangered on the entire west coast. This particular woods has been logged in the past.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Lacy vine maples are part of the understory growth in this grove of trees.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>These large conifers have shallow root systems.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Large sword ferns occupy almost all open spaces between the trees. Some of these large ferns were over four feet tall and nine feet in diameter.<\/p><\/div>\n
A mile into our walk, I asked Dan, “Are we going to have a river on our River Loop?”\u00a0 He laughed.\u00a0 We had watched “Jurassic Park” the night before.<\/p>\n
The sound of water grew louder and we emerged onto the banks of the Skagit River.<\/p>\n
<\/a>A gravel bar on our side of the river was submerged by a foot of rushing water. At the edge of the gravel bar, deeper water is the color of cold icy gray glaciers.<\/p><\/div>\n