Mount Rainier
By Clair Bolender

Today I saw Mt. Rainier. So what’s the “Big Deal”?  I have lived in the lower Puget Sound area all of my life and even with our cloudy and rainy weather Mt. Rainier is often visible to us.  I have probably seen it ten thousand times and am always awed and impressed by its grandeur. I have often thanked the Creator for placing me in the mountain’s proximity. Each time I gaze at its lofty presence I am reminded of the God who created it and all the other beauty that I see.

But today was different. I was fishing with my good friend Jon in the middle of Commencement Bay. On this warm and sunny day, the sky was clear and blue and the water peaceful and calm.  Mt. Rainier loomed over Tacoma and the foothills beyond. As is often the case when we are fishing no salmon were showing interest in our offerings, so it was a great time to reflect on the beauty of our surroundings. As we were cruising toward Quartermaster Harbor, where we had dropped our crab pots, my mind was totally focused on the scene before us. Fortunately, Jon was tending the helm.

My first thought was of the beauty and majesty of the mountain and how blessed I am to live within sight of it. I even thanked God that he gave me eyes to see and appreciate its grandeur. How could anything compare to the wonder and magnitude of God’s creation?

About this time I was struck with the realization that Mt. Rainier was more than just a “pretty face”. It was created for me to enjoy, but not “just” for enjoyment but was placed where it is to serve a very important purpose. That purpose is to sustain life and bring nourishment to the valleys and plains below. No doubt, the Native Americans of this area understood the life-giving blessings of this majestic peak, for they named it Mt. Tahoma (mother of waters).

On this day in July the mountain was amply covered with pure white snow which had accumulated during our winter and extra damp spring. All the craggy outcroppings were smoothed over with a velvety frosting. I thought about the amazing mass of snow and ice stored there and the millions of cubic feet of water captured and held on the mountain’s slopes, ready to be released as needed to the valleys below. I marveled at the ingenuity, planning and precision design of the elaborate system that would be a source of abundant life for a large part of our state.

My first observation was that the mountain is placed in exactly the right spot to do the most good. Its glaciers and snowfields drain into gorges and canyons that fan out in all directions to fill streams watering much of the lower Puget Sound area. Also it is planted smack dab in the path of the prevailing southwest winds that bring the rain-bearing clouds from our coast. Because of the fourteen thousand foot elevation the clouds pile up against its peaks and dump their heavy loads of moisture on the slopes where it is kept refrigerated to be metered out at just the right time and in just the right amount.

I now saw Mt. Rainier as a giant reservoir, waiting for the warmth of the sun and the heat from the pressure of many tons of frozen water to begin the melting process. Drip by drip, trickle by trickle, brook by brook the creeks and rivulets are filled. They, in turn, converge on the tributaries to unload their precious cargo that will then flow into rivers for the journey to the lowlands, the estuaries and Puget Sound.

I thought about how, slowly but surely ancient accumulations of compacted snow and ice are grinding along the granite floor of the glacier beds. Inch by inch, year in and year out, almost imperceptibly, but persistently and constantly, the glaciers glide downward. The tremendous pressure of their weight carves the stone as it travels and the friction melts the ice adding to the sun- melted water from above. The abrasion of the rock beds adds minute particles of sand and minerals to the moving water which are carried in suspension, along with hitch-hiking organic materials to be dispersed in the fields and marshes. Like living plasma this rich mixture nourishes and sustains fish, fauna. flora and beings.
            We located our crab pots and hauled them aboard. Four crabs! Not bad for the first crabbing of the year. They will make a delicious meal. Then we headed back to Gig Harbor.
            As we made the sweeping turn out of Quartermaster I took one last glance over my left shoulder and was stunned at the sight. I noticed, for the first time, there were two mountains. One was standing on its head, inverted and reflected by the glassy waters of Commencement Bay. “Now Lord, You’re just showing off!” Or could this added emphasis be God’s way of making sure that I get the point?

God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas”.
And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1;10