Sarah Zimmerman
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sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Sarah Zimmerman
@sjzimmerman.bsky.social
6.3K followers 4K following 850 posts
Historian, gender, West Africa, French imperialism, militarization, Author of Militarizing Marriage (Ohio UP 2020). Past-présidente of French Colonial Historical Society, BCDSS alum, recovering Oakland As Fan, PNW hiking/backpacking...w/ signature typoes
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sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Amidst the Big Damp™ and Big Dusk™ I got out for a hike. The weather forecasters said the sun would come out at 3pm. The misty outlook photo was taken at 3:06pm.
A leafy, fern framed trail traveling uphill in a foggy overcast second/third growth forest. Mist dancing on unmet promises of sunshine at a rock cropping overlook above evergreens. Misty, rocky, evergreens on a cliff's edge.
November 21, 2025 at 1:02 AM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Got out for a nice 11m "new to me" hike yesterday. A typical low elevation PNW hike--miles of 2nd/3rd growth woods, then an ephemeral "overlook," then back to the trailhead.
Saw another owl. Contemplated the beauty of "maintained" nature & its history of resource extraction. Twas a beautiful day.
A second or third growth wooded upwards path, surrounded by monocrop future timber. There is sun shining through the mossy trunks. A reminder of what once was. An enormous stump of a cedar (?) that was likely logged in the first round of white settlement in the late 19thC. The vista! A reflective, clam lake extending into the horizon with a second growth, mostly treed lakeshore ans hills extending into the horizon. a tree in the foreground frames that photo. in the upper center of the photo a barred(?) owl stares down at me from a tree branch above the trail.
November 12, 2025 at 5:56 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
I, along with many of you, have flights we would rather catch in the upcoming month. That written, why aren't the air traffic controllers (NATCA) striking?
A screen capture of the 40 major airports planning air traffic controller cuts.
November 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Made it up to 2000ft? If you squint in the first photo you can see Mt Tahoma (Rainier). The feathered creature and I shared an eternity when our eyes met. It is certainly mushroom season here.....
A lowish elevation vista point looking out over mostly second-growth forest. There are clouds rolling in, but you can see the shadow shape of Mt Tahoma is the distance. A barred owl (i think) staring at me from a mossy tree branch over the trail. Mushrooms spreading like scales on a mossy trunk
November 4, 2025 at 9:15 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
They are taking our sunshine away this weekend.........the votive-fueled, sullied gourd offers brief respite on the eve of the era of darkness....
A jack-o-lantern
October 31, 2025 at 2:45 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Meet Ayo, the mascot for the Youth Olympics in Dakar 2026.

In the video (located elsewhere), this little lion gives a mighty roar.
A cartoon lion wearing a woven conical hat, red, green, and yellow clothing, and a Dakar 2026 white t-shirt. It leaves one wanting more.
October 31, 2025 at 2:00 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Got out for a little stroll between the waves of drizzle. The sun almost showed up.
A mossy stump in the woods with yellow broadleaf scattered behind it. A wet fall look. Lake shot with yellow-leaved trees rimming the far bank--illuminated by a setting sun. Clouds and grey in the sky.
October 30, 2025 at 3:29 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Here come the lower elevation hikes. It's supposed to snow 6-7 ft. at the peak of Koma Kulshan this weekend. The theme for the next six months is wet, muddy trails and municipal/county lakes....also, The Big Dark™ is coming to match with its natural mate, The Big Damp™.
This could be any season in the PNW. A muddy trail surrounded by wet ferns, leaves, trees, moss, GREEN. Sunset shot of a municipal lake with a treed hill in the background with sunset fog hugging a saddle.
October 26, 2025 at 3:02 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
I worked over the rainy weekend to free up today--taking advantage of perhaps the final set of sunny days here in the PNW until the Big Damp™ lifts in June 2026. Clearly, the weekend rain was snow high up. This may be my last excursion above 3k feet for the year.
A stream is running through a snow-speckled mountain meadow. In the distance, Koma Kulshan lurks behind the treeline. Snow on the trail and snow on the vertical meadow surrounding it. A bright, empty clear blue sky in the background. A snowy trail cuts across a vertical meadow that has autumn colors poking through light snow. There is a green, evergreen-packed river valley beyond, and koma kulshan, bright white and sparking in the distance--touching the sky. Snow in the foreground, a sweep of evergreen mountainside, a river valley, then a line of white in the background, which are the North Cascades.
October 15, 2025 at 2:58 AM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
A close up of humpy with the "win" across their fishy face
October 11, 2025 at 4:52 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
For those of us who indulge a little bit of superstition around sportsball, the real story from last night is that Humpy, in an unprecedented 2nd contest in one game, won the salmon run for the first time in two years.
A screen shots of Humpy, a person wearing a costume, winning the Salmon run foot race in the 15th inning during the Mariners' marathon win over the Detroit Tigers on October 10. The image is of a footed fish running past the Seattle Mariners medallion, with an outfield crowd in the background
October 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
When you're reading about the youth in the streets in Morocco & learn that the 2030 Men's World Cup will be in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal....and now you can't stop calling it the...

!! ALMORAVID WORLD CUP !!

The military legacies of Abdullah ibn Yasin and Abubakar ibn Omar live on!
A map of northwestern Africa and Iberia. The almoravid empire is indicated in green and stretches from Awdaghust (contemporary Mauritania) to Saragossa in contemporary Spain.
October 4, 2025 at 3:29 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
The Fairhaven College World Issues Forum at WWU screened Rozy Frederick's documentary "The Waste Commons" to a packed house today...
Flyer for the event described in the post with a photo of Rozy Fredericks.
October 2, 2025 at 4:11 AM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Is it not Katmai National Park Bear Week? Is this not on Bluesky?
A cartoon poster for "Fat Bear Week" from Katmai National Park and Preserve. The drawn bears are eating salmon in the waters below a sports-like bracket.
September 25, 2025 at 2:10 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Got out for an equinox hike. Made it to 6k ft & the fall colors were resplendent. The red foliage sweeping the high meadows are blueberries. Ran into a clutch of hunters w/ rifles looking for deer...so be aware that's in season. Snow (up high) is coming this week?
a slanted mountain landscape with a trail cutting through a green and red field. There are evergreens framing the photo in the distance and a lovely lightly clouded sky. Fall foliage is out! the brilliant red of the blueberry leaves pair well with green brush and yellowed leaves in the foreground. evergreens stand resolute with Koma kolshan in the background touching the sky. A layer cake of fall mountain view: A trail cutting through a green and red meadow with a stand of evergreens, then Koma Kolshan in the background, dominating the sky.
September 23, 2025 at 3:46 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
A final overnight for the season? Copper Ridge, you nearly undid us. Our sore muscles and joints for these views....
hiking east down from the Copper Ridge Observation towers--a switchbacking, snaking trail cutting accross a mountain framed by more distant mountains. Ridge shot! Scrub, flowers and meadow frame the trail, a hiker in the foreground, nearly snowless mountains as backdrop with sky. A marshy wetland along the Chiliwack River. A burst of green with some smoke haze and mountain ridge in the background. The cause of the haze. A pan to the east. In the foreground, there is evidence of a three-year old fire that swept up the south and north flanks of the Chiliwack River valley. In the distance, snow capped mountains with the twin plumes of the Perry Fire lurking, terrifying, on the horizon.
September 4, 2025 at 5:52 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Fire on the mountain, beyond the ridgeline
August 30, 2025 at 4:29 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
An outing from the eve of Labor day weekend...the final photo in the thread shows the smoke rising off of the 250 acre Perry Fire, which has grown rapidly over the past several days.
A morning shot of a mountain river valley facing away from the sunrise angles, mountains, trails, shadows, green grasses, shrubs, and cloud shadows glaciers at elevation in the north cascades national park a mountain wall with a touch of late summer snow above a meadow and evergreen forest
August 30, 2025 at 4:29 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
So, you say that there is a trail that splits Shuksun and Kulshun...above the treeline and on a warm day...yes, of course I'll drive.
A view of Mt Shuksun with a beautiful clear sky with distant clouds and more mountains in the background. You could reach out an touch the glaciers on Koma Kulshan. A blue-green tarn with Mt Koma Kulshan lingering in the background. My hiking partner up a dry moraine climb with some low peaks, blue sky, and could burst on the horizon.
August 27, 2025 at 1:50 AM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
A still shot from Ben Stiller's Dodgeball movie, in which a team is enacting an intimidating coordinating "snake" move that is weirdly derivative of the Haka. This team is bedecked in purple and black and is stacked with ringers.
August 22, 2025 at 2:33 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Got a brief hike down by Chinook pass and the lupines were out in force....once the morning mists cleared.....
The mists receding along a mountain crest in the background. In the foreground, a mountain lake. A mountain photo with purples lupines blanketing the foreground A mountain photo with purples lupines blanketing the foreground
August 15, 2025 at 4:50 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
This and the next photo are of Deception Lake, this one is SUPER misty and obscured at sunset. The next is light-filled beautiful sunrise, with rays dancing on the trees, surrounding hillsides, and the lake. This and the previous photo are of Deception Lake, the previous is SUPER misty and obscured at sunset. This image is light-filled beautiful sunrise, with rays dancing on the trees, surrounding hillsides, and the lake. Reflected/doubled in the lake. a magical mountain-scape with flowers in the foreground, firs in the middle ground, and tree-covered mountains in the distance
August 9, 2025 at 11:56 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Have you ever hiked all day (17m) in pouring rain? I have now shared your experience. First (only?) long-distance overnight backpacking of 2025.
picture from the inside of my tent on rain day at 6:00am. It is soaked. dancing clouds over a highly reflective Waptus Lake moonrise over Waptus Lake doubled a gorgeous mountain valley during a sunburst
August 9, 2025 at 11:56 PM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
Another day spent in the Cascades....
layers of mountains with light snow and trees looking north--with a nearly cloudless blue sky behind looking east into the north cascades from 6k feet. Green peaks and valleys abut vertical moraine ridges verdant foreground with kulshun hovering in the background a multi-faceted mountain
July 29, 2025 at 1:11 AM
sjzimmerman.bsky.social
I'm certain I should be writing....
A gorgeous river valley morning in the North Cascades. A snowy set of peaks looking like a high wall above evergreens and a flowered meadow in the North Cascades National Park The cloud cover increased across midday and came in low over snowy peaks in the North Cascades National Park I down-elevation photo of Egg lake and a deeper valley carved by the Silesia Creek in the North Cascades National Park.
July 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM