Things that fall...

Well... obviously, there are waterfalls - my favorite photographic subject.  I found numerous waterfalls, large and small, on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier.  The first is in a ravine alongside the road.  I saw no trails descending into the canyon to get a better viewpoint.

The southerly road into Rainier NP was the only one open, and that one was blocked by snow near the midpoint.  At one of the overlooks, there were two small falls dropping down to the road.

Not all that falls in Rainier is water, at least liquid water.  There are places along the road marked by signs prohibiting stopping, due to avalanche paths. Further up the road, I could get a good view of one such, including the bridge carrying the road across the slide path.

Leaving Rainier NP, I was driving along and glanced right into the shadows.  There I saw a beautiful little rill surrounded by verdure.  One of the largest mountains I have seen, and my favorite photo turns out to be this tiny little waterfall.

In the crater at Mount St. Helens, there is something that is falling very slowly - a glacier.  The crater opens to the north.  In the crater is a dome of slowly growing volcanic ash and lava.  Between that dome and the crater walls, a glacier, sheltered from the sun by the high crater walls, is growing and slowly pushing its way north, downslope toward the Toutle River, Johnston Ridge and Spirit Lake.

Falling a bit faster are bits of rock, snow and ice on the walls of the crater.  The steep slopes are very unstable and rockfall is a very frequent occurrence.  The rock and ash sliding over the snow and ice paints fan-shaped patterns on the east wall.