September is the best month for clouds. Little puffs of white invade the cotton candy blue skies of the hot, dry Pacific Northwest summer. Fish bones of ice striate the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Mid-level altostratus greet us at sunrise and bid us good day at sunset as they stretch into the horizon gathering reds, pinks, and oranges. And, most wonderfully, the good ole plain stratus returns. Yes, I do mean that non-descript marine layer that blocks out the sun and covers the earth in what some people may describe as smothering and depressing and what I call a nice, cozy autumn blanket. It’s even better when it extends itself all the way to the ground and becomes my favorite of all, fog. This is when I’m no longer just admiring the clouds, but am literally in the cloud. How does everyone not think this is the coolest thing ever?

I think Maria Mudd Ruth, the author of A Sideways Look at Clouds, would agree with me. In my favorite part of the book, she describes swimming in a lake early one September morning. Fog covered the lake and she bravely swam into it, attaching a string to the shore so she could follow it back. Just thinking of this scene makes me feel still and peaceful. I don’t think we are only ones with a heart for the foggy. Maria goes on to point out that there are a myriad of descriptors of fog (she writes about them in a blog post, 51 Names for Fog) proving to me that if people say they don’t outright enjoy the fog and its many forms, they at least respect it and maybe, on some deep down level, they enjoy it just a tiny bit.

On still, cool nights I sense that our tired, end-of-summer earth is sighing. In the morning there is the beautiful blanket of fog it has exhaled.

This mutual love for fog and clouds is what found me and the Alpine Trails Book Club sitting fireside in a historic forest service building listening to Maria read an excerpt from her book. I watched a tree sway in the rain-spotted window as the wind howled and the warmth of the fire brought feeling back to my fingers. Maria graciously agreed to come out and hike with us on what would have ideally been a gorgeous day of cumulus cloud spotting and admiring Mount Baker and the surrounding peaks. Instead, our group circled up at the trailhead (we were the only ones there) bouncing and swishing in our rainbow colored rain jackets and rain pants to keep warm. We hugged each other and introduced ourselves to our first ever guest author. Maria later told me she was convinced that she and I would be the only ones who showed up that day. I explained to her how hardcore and amazing our group is. Their wonderful smiling faces didn’t even flinch at that nimbostratus.

So we marched straight into the clouds surrounding Bagley Lakes. Maria fed us interesting bits of cloud knowledge as we fed ourselves with the surrounding ripe blueberries (of course). I corralled everyone onto a little stone bridge and did a little happy dance as I took the best photo of our group. I remembered that there was a ranger station near the trail and wondered if we could get to it to seek some shelter from the cold wind and rain. We climbed up stone steps attached to a smooth ancient lava rock to the old building and sure enough, there was a little covered porch area overlooking the lakes. We shed our wet coats and got out our mugs and even some china. Laura brought some hot chai to go with the pumpkin-flavored cloud-shaped cookies I made to share. Maria topped off our little tea party with some donut holes she used to demonstrate the origin of the word “cloud” derived from the word “clod” meaning “rock” or “lump”.

As we chatted on the porch with Maria about how her cloud book came to be, we smelled smoke. It lured us inside the building where we were greeted with what I can only describe as book club magic. Benches surrounded a raging hot fire and the place was empty save a few lovely lady volunteers. They explained to us that one of them had just cleaned out the old fireplace and thought this was the perfect day to try it out with a fire. I asked if they minded if we stayed and hung out for awhile in this bit of serendipitous perfection. They agreed, happy for the distraction on what would normally be a long, lonely day. Maria appropriately read a passage from her book about how rain forms and we peppered her with questions as we thawed our fingers and toes. Then she anointed as all pluviophiles, lovers of clouds.

I could have stayed there in that cozy room forever, but alas, we mustered up the courage to return to the outside and continue on the loop trail. The rain had slowed but the stratus clung to the mountains even more than it had earlier. But once in a while it would clear ahead of us just enough to give us the tiniest bit of a view of the surrounding mountains. It once even cleared enough for us to spot fresh snow on nearby Mount Shuksan.

I need to look where I was going, but I also need to stop and look up to appreciate the miracles of the sky, to experience the joy of the clouds, and to learn something new about them every day.

Maria’s book makes the science of the clouds interesting and approachable. She has such enthusiasm that exudes from every word on the page, it is contagious! After reading this book I vowed to pay more attention to the clouds. I have a new-found appreciation for these ethereal things of everyday life. I’ve started taking more pictures of clouds and I picked up some of the books Maria mentions in her book like The Cloudspotter’s Guide and The Met Office Pocket Cloud Book to learn even more. I find that this brings me immense joy and is just another way to enjoy and appreciate nature.

 

Although there was a mile or so of atmosphere between us, I felt a special kinship with these clouds at the lake. There was so little difference between us. Here we were, fluid bodies floating. Here were the clouds, aloft, reflected. Here I was, afloat, reflecting. I had found my way in.

You can learn more about Maria on her website. She is working on a new book (that can’t come soon enough!) and she wrote a lovely blog post about our outing, Book Club in the Clouds.

 

 

A Sideways Look At Clouds by Maria Mudd Ruth

Book Ends

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• Read Maria Mudd Ruth’s equally compelling book, Rare Bird, about a funny little maritime bird, the marbled murrelet.
• Become a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society, and check out their collection of cloud art
• Read The Hidden Importance of Clouds and their role in climate change.