And so 2025 bites the dust. Another trip around the sun completed. Twelve months of trips, hikes, and skiing days captured on my camera's memory cards. That can only mean one thing - it's time again for the Linda's Lens photographic year-end recap.
As my regular readers know, in December I pick twelve photos, one from each month, that I feel best captures the important life events from said past year. They aren't always my best or favorite photos, but often ones that that trigger fond or bittersweet memories. Over time I've done several different formats of these "best photo" posts, with varying criteria about what type of image qualifies for the yearly summary. But for the past several years I've stuck to presenting the images taken from the month they were captured, not the month they appeared in my blog. And since my postings always lag real life events, some of these photos haven't yet made it into the blog. That is, until now.
So pull up a chair, grab a beverage of choice, and enjoy the 2025 edition of Linda's Lens year in photos!
January
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| One of many ski days |
2024-25 was a stellar ski season. It started with abundant snowfall in November, and I logged my first ski day on the unbelievably early date of the Monday before Thanksgiving. The fun continued throughout December, January, February, March and into April with several trips to the local ski areas - both on Mt. Hood and Mt. Bachelor. I'm lucky to have a bunch of good friends to ski with, and last year I added another to my list- a recently retired co-worker named Deneen. Being a much better skier than I, she pushed me to try more difficult runs and ski longer into the afternoon. I ended the season with 42 days on the slopes - a new personal record.
February
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| Frozen waterfalls in the Gorge |
My February photo log is full of either skiing or bird photos and not much else. But there was one memorable day mid-month where temperatures dropped low enough to cause all the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge to freeze. Being a waterfall lover, I bundled up and headed to the Gorge to capture this rare event. I spent a frigid morning clicking the shutter and then wiping the icy water droplets from my camera lens. In such a cold, wet environment, it didn't take long for my hands and feet to freeze, and this limited the number of cascades visited. Despite the cold I witnessed some beautiful ice sculptures, all courtesy of Mother Nature.
March
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| Purple spring wildflowers |
By March, early spring wildflowers begin to appear in the eastern reaches of the Columbia River Gorge. Although winter, and skiing, were still going strong on Mt. Hood, I did manage to carve out a couple of days for hikes to check out the blooms. One of my favorite early spring trails is the Labyrinth, on the Washington side of the Gorge. Vibrant purple flowers called grass widows were prolific along this trail (you can see a few in the foreground of the above image) as well as stellar views of the Columbia River and surrounding landscape. This image is bittersweet because in July a huge wildfire ripped through this area, blackening everything in its path. However, despite the damage, I'm hopeful that the ash-enriched soil will produce an extraordinary wildflower bloom next spring.
April
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| A trip to Maui |
In mid-April, with ski season winding down, and my hubby's retirement nearing (not to mention our 40th wedding anniversary in August) I booked a trip to Maui to celebrate. Hubby and I enjoyed the beautiful weather, stunning scenery, and friendly locals that the Hawaiian islands are known for. The highlight for me was driving a winding road up to the 10,023 foot summit of Haleakalā Crater in Haleakalā National Park (my 23rd NP visited so far that year.)
May
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| Pygmy owl in the forest |
May was a bad month for me. A hike near Mt. St. Helens resulted in my backpack tumbling down an extremely steep slope into an inaccessible ravine. I lost my wallet, cell phone, prescription sunglasses, and gps unit, plus many other treasured outdoor items. A week later after hastily replacing the most important things lost in the accident, I traveled to see my parents and spent a week with my mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's. As many of you know, it's difficult to see a parent's health decline and it was a tough visit. Also during this time, my hubby had to travel internationally for work and experienced a couple of issues I had to help resolve. Back home in late May and feeling down, I forced myself to go for a hike at a local state park. Walking through the forest, I began to hear hooting. It took a few minutes, but I was able to locate the source of the noise - an adorable pygmy owl in a nearby tree. This rare wildlife sighting really uplifted my mood and gave me hope that my luck had finally turned around.
June
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| Copenhagen, Denmark |
Happily, my worst month was followed by my best month. The most favorite and memorable event of the year occurred in June when I traveled to Scandinavia with my good friend Kim. Our third Rick Steves tour, this one was Kim and I's favorite. We explored the countries of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway and loved each one. Kim and I were joined by two ladies - Debbie and Alicia - who we'd met on our 2023 Ireland tour. The dynamics of this group of four women made the trip even more fun.
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| My friends and I on the ferry to Ærø island |
After taking thousands of photos, both by phone and camera, from this 2-plus week tour, you can imagine it was a difficult task to pick just one image to represent this fabulous vacation. So I didn't! Instead you get two - a photograph of the brightly colored buildings of Copenhagen's Nyhavn District and a fun selfie of my friends and I riding the ferry to Denmark's Ærø island.
Recapping this trip took up a good chunk of my 2025 blog posts, but now that it's finally finished I'm glad I put in the effort. I really enjoy returning to my previous travel recaps and will treasure this latest rendition. Even though most of these posts were super-long, they act as an electronic scrapbook created just for me. (Maybe someday I'll turn them all into real books.)
July
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| Beargrass superbloom on Mt. Hood |
Back home from my travels, in July it was time to hike! This summer the Mt. Hood area had a superbloom of beargrass, the poofy white plant that grows in alpine environments. These beargrass superblooms don't occur regularly, only every 3 to 10 years, so when it happens, I get out to photograph it! Surprisingly the best display of beargrass was on the slopes of my local ski area, resulting in several fabulous wildflower hikes.
August
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| Maple Pass, North Cascades NP |
August was a month of exploring new trails. I finally made it to SW Washington's Goat Rocks Wilderness, a place I'd long wanted to see. And later that month I made the long drive to visit my 24th National Park - North Cascades NP in north-central Washington. I hiked the spectacular Heather - Maple Pass loop and it was simply breathtaking! There were so many beautiful mountain trails, I'm definitely heading back up here in 2026.
September
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| Peter Iredale shipwreck at sunset |
My hubby is an avid fisherman. However I don't share his enthusiasm, so he usually goes by himself. But one week in mid-September, wanting to hit the fall salmon run on the Oregon coast, he booked accommodations and invited me to join him. While hubby was fishing, I toured around the northern Oregon coast with my camera. Staying so close to the beaches, it was easy to capture sunsets and sunrises without a lot of driving time. I especially liked the colorful sunset I captured near the Peter Iredale shipwreck at Fort Stevens State Park.
October
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| Spectacular fall colors in Leavenworth, WA |
My buddy Kim and I had long talked about visiting the charming, Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth, located in the Central Washington Cascades. Passing through on my way to North Cascades NP gave us both the motivation we needed to finally plan a trip. Luck was with us - not only did our late October arrival coincide with a lull between busy seasons, we also hit peak fall color. I took some of the best autumn leaf photos of the entire season. I think visiting Leavenworth will likely become a yearly tradition.
November
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| Twister Falls, Eagle Creek trail |
The Columbia River Gorge's Eagle Creek trail is my favorite Gorge hike. The ultimate destination is breathtaking Tunnel and Twister Falls, reached by a 6 1/2 mile one-way trek. I hadn't visited these waterfalls since 2017, a few months before a devastating wildfire decimated this area. Although I'd hiked the Eagle Creek trail many times after it was reopened, I'd yet to make it all the way to Tunnel and Twister Falls. After an unexpected rainy day foiled my friends and I from reaching this destination, two weeks later, my hubby and I tried again. And this time we succeeded! Finally seeing these two spectacular cascades was so worth the long, round-trip hike.
December
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| The Ornament trail |
I wrapped up my 2025 hiking season with a trek to special place - the Christmas Ornament trail. Hidden deep in the Columbia River Gorge, this short path is where colorful decorations dangle from mossy tree branches. I recruited two friends to accompany me and we had a fantastic time, even adding a few baubles of our own.
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This year brought a lot of joy - plenty of ski days, memorable hikes, another amazing international trip, my hubby's retirement (hooray!) and a vacation to Maui. And as of the end of this month, I'll have been retired for five years. When people say time goes faster once you've retired, they're not kidding!
However, there's also been a bit of sadness for me in 2025. My mom, who has suffered from Alzheimer's for the past several years, seems to be deteriorating more rapidly. A sweet, kind sister-in-law was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. These incidents reminded me that life and good health are precious commodities, and you never really know how many days you have.
So in 2026 I resolve to "do it now" and not put off activities because of chores, less-than-perfect weather, traffic, or plain old laziness. The clock is ticking and I'm not getting any younger! Time to start checking things off the ol' bucket list.
As always, thanks to my readers for continuing to follow and comment on my little blog. I maintain this page for my own pleasure as a sort of online scrapbook. I'm always surprised and pleased that there are others who enjoy my photos and musings. I hope you'll all stick around to see what 2026 has in store for me.
Happy New Year!!
