After all, most of our hiking trailheads are made inaccessible during winter. But the rules change when snow flies. The heavy snow pack that closes off so many of our great wild areas actually creates much more de facto wilderness for us to explore. Dump three or four feet of snow on an old logging road and you have a snowshoeing trail. Cover the stumps and scars of an ugly clearcut with a blanket of white and the space becomes a spacious meadow to explore and enjoy.
Snow does more than cover blemishes.
It can take a remarkably beautiful landscape and alter it into something nearly unrecognizable - though no less beautiful. This is a lesson that more hikers need to learn. Surely every Puget Sounder who enjoys the outdoors has journeyed to Paradise at one time or another during the summer. We've seen and enjoyed the vast meadows of wildflowers with the majestic ice-crowned peak of Mount Rainier in the background. We've walked the trails, and though they are paved with asphalt and crowded with tourists, we've still enjoyed the beauty of the area.