Enchantments

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The Enchantments are a small enclave of serrated peaks and jade colored lakes located in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, not far from Leavenworth.

Every year there is a lottery for camping permits, I’ve entered the lottery each year since 2006 and got lucky in 2014 and won a 5 day permit, to the Enchantments Core for early October.

The experience was a bit of a sensory overload. Every time I opened my eyes, I wanted to take a picture.

Every tree, every lake, every scene everywhere I looked was luscious with colors, shapes and textures, OMMFG, I couldn’t stop!!!

Here are just a few images from Prusik Peak and Gnome Tarn.

When I came home and loaded the images into the computer I couldn’t even look at them for a while, the overload was still there! I managed to post a few pics, and then left them.

Normally I go through the files from a photo shoot and choose which images to post online and which to edit for printing.

IF I’m lucky, I might have an interest in maybe, 1 in 10 or 20 or even 1 in 50 is the norm. With the Enchantments, it seemed that every image was perfect.

These images are all from one day! We visited Perfection Lake, Prusik Peak and had an encounter with goats.

These images are from Perfection Lake and nearby…

After the day hike to Prusik Peak I returned to camp and met several goats. They were rooting around looking for food. I managed to get a few images of them as well.

Many more pics to come soon!

Autumn in Skagit Valley and North Cascades

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One doesn’t normally associate the northwestern corner of the US with fall colors. New England the Mid-Atlantic states in the northeast are usually the focus of any autumn photo spread.

But autumn in Skagit Valley and North Cascades is not too shabby.

The valley and the rivers make wonderful spots for fall.

Double Rainbow, Fir Island
Gordon Skagit Farm
Sedro Woolley
Grandy Lake Sunset, Skagit County
Gordon Skagit Farm
Sedro Woolley Panorama
Fir Island
Berries
Skagit Valley Sunset
Skagit Valley Sunset
Sedro Woolley
Skagit Valley Barn
Mt Baker and Mt Shuksan

Up the valley a bit along the Baker and Skagit Rivers fall colors abound. Salmon spawn in the fall. The entire valley is lit up and on display!

The 2020 Washington State Night Sky Calendar is now on sale! Get your copy here.

Mt Baker from Baker Lake Road
North Fork, Skykomish River
Baker River
Mt Baker from Baker Lake Road
Baker River
Baker River
Baker River Trail footbridge
Mt Baker from Baker Lake Road
Baker River Trail
Baker Lake
Baker Lake
Mt Baker from Baker Lake Road
Baker River
Baker River Salmon
Baker River Bridge
Baker River
Baker River Trail

The main contributors to Fall here in the North Cascades are the blueberry/huckleberry bushes, which carpet the mountains in bright reds and the larch, who’s green needles turn bright orange in the first week or October. . .

North Cascades Photo Tours are also available!

Above Cascade Pass, North Cascades National Park
Mt Shuksan and Picture Lake
Doubtful Lake, North Cascades National Park
Artist Point
Lake Ann and Maple Pass
Lake Ann
Heather Pass
Washington Pass
Mt Baker from Artist Point
Twin Lakes
Heather Pass
Lake Ann and Maple Pass
Cutthroat Pass
Cutthroat Peak

Larch grow new green needles each spring, and in early October they turn orange and fall off! The elevation of the larch varies in Western Washington, usually you can find the larch between 5,000 and 7,000 ft elevation.

Fine Art Prints as well as Canvas Wraps are also available in a wide range of sizes and frames. Here is the Gallery Page.

Colchuck Lake, Enchantments
Prussik Peak, Enchantments
Amphitheater Mountain, Pasayten Wilderness
Blue Lake
Goats in the Enchantments
Early Winter Spires
Early Winter Spires
Amphitheater Mountain, Pasayten Wilderness
North Cascades Pond
Perfection Lake, Enchantments
Prussik Peak, Enchantments
Windy Peak, Pasayten Wilderness
Cathedral Peak
Cathedral Peak, Upper Cathedral Lake

Best Fall Hikes in the North Cascades

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I regularly get requests from magazines asking for images, they specify which places, season, weather, or what ever fits their plans for upcoming issues. If you have any good images of say, Crater Lake at night, then you submit, if they like, your image gets published.

Best Fall Hikes, or October Hikes was one of the categories needed.

I love fall colors, love the lack of bugs and the crisp air for hiking. Its funny, in early July just when access to the high country is about to start, to be thinking ahead to fall. But I spent two days locating and editing images…

Best Fall Hikes in the North Cascades

The North Cascades offer a unique version of fall, The Larch. The mountain larch, or Tamarack, looks like a regular evergreen in the spring or summer, but in early October the needles turn bright orange, and then fall off.

The effect is stunning. The sharp orange, interspersed with greens and browns, maybe a few white clouds in an bright blue sky…are you getting the idea? Its a color junkies dream.

All of these hikes are along (or close to) the Cascade Loop. Check their web site for lots of ideas of more adventures, as well as food/lodging.

Here are the 3 Best Fall Hikes in the North Cascades

The Enchantments

How can you not start with the Enchantments? This is one of the most magical places to hike anywhere in the world. And in early October it just explodes. If you go, plan to spend several days. You’ll not soon forget it! Yes, its a pain to get a permit, and yes, it is a brutal approach to get up and into the Core of the Enchantments with photo gear and 5 days of food, but who ever said Perfection Lake was easily attained? Book a night or two at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in Leavenworth to aid your recovery!

Here are a few images from a recent October trip.

The next Best Fall Hike is another local favorite. Early October weekends will find this trail head packed to overflowing, with cars out along both sides of Highway 20.

Blue Lake and Washington Pass

Larch seem to like an elevation around 6,000 to 8,000 feet. You can see them here draped like a necklace over the neck line of Liberty Bell. Washington Pass, located on the North Cascades Highway offers spectacular views of Liberty Bell Mountain and the north side of Early Winter Spires.

The Blue Lake trail, located about a quarter mile from Washington Pass Overlook, is a short, moderate trail which skirts along the base and then along the back side of the monolith. Once you get to Blue Lake the views back to Early Winter Spires are impossibly beautiful.

Finally for the 3rd Best Fall Hikes in the North Cascades…This last one is a bit further afield, its a long drive over to Eastern Washington, up through Omak, north of Tonasket and on to the Pasayten Wilderness. But the trail, though long, has minimal elevation change and the payoff, at Upper Cathedral Lake will only make you want to stay longer.

Upper Cathedral Lake, Pasayten Wilderness

In some places you’ll find Larch, often interspersed with other trees. Sort of sprinkled about. But here in the Upper Cathedral Lakes basin its almost solid larch. and as you are imagining, its like someone lit the place on fire.The trail takes you up to Sunny Pass, through Horseshoe Basin and along the Boundary Trail (the Canada Border is a stones throw away). This section of the trail is also part of the much longer Pacific Northwest Trail.

 

Images of the Enchantments

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The Enchantments are a small section of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, in the North Cascades of Washington State.
There are many magical sights to see.
Here are three of my favorites:

  • Colchuck Lake from Aasgard Pass
  • Isolation Lake
  • Prusik Peak and Gnome Tarn

Here is a link for info about North Cascades Photo Tours

And here is a link to find out more about North Cascades Night Sky Photo Tours

Fall Colors of the North Cascades

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Trip to Leavenworth

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Leavenworth is the second most visited tourist destination in Washington, only Seattle pulls more visitors.

Nestled in the eastern foothills of the North Cascades, Leavenworth has created itself as a Bavarian Village.

For myself the draw of Leavenworth last weekend was fall colors.

The east side of the Cascades has generally bluer skies and wonderful trees and autumn explosion of bright color.

Here are images from the trip!

Fall Colors are almost here!

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Two years ago I scored a 5 -day permit for the Enchantments, in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, near Leavenworth, Washington.

The hike up Aasgard Pass to the Enchantments Basin was brutal, but infinitely worth the sweat and pain!

The Sub-alpine Larch turn colors in early October, to a bright electric orange.

The result is unbelievable!

Washington’s 5 Best Camping Spots

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Washington’s 5 Best Camping Spots

You have to backpack to these spots, no ‘drive and park’ camping! Each spot can be reached with one days hiking (although depending upon your fitness/motivation level Isolation Lake and Lakeview Ridge may require a two-day hike to get there). All 5 spots afford an absolutely jaw dropping, gob smacking, OMFG view from your tent that you will not soon forget. List out your favorite superlatives: all apply to these scenic camping spots.

Sahale Glacier Camp – North Cascades National Park
This just might be one of the best camping spots anywhere. The camp is situated atop 3 piles of glacial rubble at the toe of Sahale Glacier. Stone rings protect you from the wind. Goats often come for a visit. And the views! An ocean of jagged summits spread out before you… oh, and the toilet has the best view in the state!

Isolation Lake – Enchantments, Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Hiking up Aasgard Pass with a big pack is no picnic, but once you get up, Isolation Lake is there, waiting. This is a land of rocks and ice. The serrated peaks cut the sky and the crystal pure, icy cold lake, blue/green lake beckon. The images of the visit will stay imprinted in your brain.

Point of the Arches, Olympic National Park
Camping on the beach is always awesome: The ocean breeze, the sounds of the birds, the feel of the sand in between your toes, a fire at night. Point of the Arches has it all: surreal sea stacks jutting out of the Pacific, tide pools filled with critters and unbelievable sunsets.

 

Lakeview Ridge, Pasayten Wilderness
This is one of the highest points along the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington, located just south of the Canadian border. The hike in is sublime, from the trailhead at Slate Peak you will meander up Rock Pass and shoot through Windy Pass onto Lakeview Ridge. Covered with wildflowers and affording views in every direction, you will have a hard time leaving.

Snow Grass Flats, Goat Rocks Wilderness
If you want to have it all, this is the place to come camp! Endless meadows carpeted with wildflowers, views of both Mount Rainier AND Mount Adams, great camping spots and…what else is there? From the Snow Grass Flats trail head hike up, up, up, the higher you camp, the better the views. Don’t miss a visit to the Knife’s Edge, its close by.

Please take a minute and send me YOUR favorite camping spots, with a picture, if you can!

If you are interested in buying fine art prints or canvas wraps of any of these images, here is the link.

Maybe you’d like to go on a guided photo tour to one these spots? We do that! Here is the link to find out more and get signed up!