Avalanche Lilies on Mt. Rainier

Last month I had the pleasure of visiting Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington State. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park system, and Rainier is one of its jewels. I took a spectacular hike my first day there along the Comet Falls Trail, which rewarded me with great views of this cascading waterfall. At the top of the falls is a meadow where the path levels out prior to a steep climb to the summit of the mountain. That is where I stopped, ate lunch, and sketched some of the many Avalanche Lilies that were growing there. Upon returning home, I used one of these sketches as the basis for the carving shown below, where the petals of that graceful flower are also the basis for the pattern on the left section of the panel. What a fine memento of a lovely day!