Cirque of the Towers and Wind River Range, Wyoming

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andyporter_winds_Cirque 4 Cirque of the Towers Panorama from Jackass Pass

The Wind River Range is located south of “more famous, but not more beautiful” Grand Teton National Park. The road to the Big Sandy Trail head is about an hours drive from the town of Pinedale, and easy to navigate in any type of vehicle. No permits needed, easy trails, and unbelievably spectacular views!

AndyPorter_Cirque_Landscape Pingora Peak, Cirque of the Towers

Pingora Peak and Cirque of the Towers Early Morning Panorama

Warbonnet Peak and Waterfall, Cirque of the Towers Warbonnet Peak

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More wildflowers in the basin at Lonesome Lake, Cirque of the Towers, Wind River Range, Wyoming More wildflowers in the basin at Lonesome Lake, Cirque of the Towers, Wind River Range, Wyoming

Steeple Peak and Lost Temple Spire from the trail to Deep Lake Steeple Peak and Lost Temple Spire from the trail to Deep Lake

View from Deep Lake, Wind River Range, Wyoming View from Deep Lake, Wind River Range, Wyoming

Point of the Arches and Shi Shi Beach, Olympic National Park

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I have camped at many places. Sometimes you find a spot with such beauty, such a personality that you fall in love.

Point of the Arches is one of those places for me. When the tide is out the beach stretches beyond the sea stacks. Wandering among the tide pools, excited to see what’s next, I am astounded at how much things change each time I visit, yet stay the same.

The sound of the waves, first muted and now roaring create a soundtrack that calms and thrills. The gulls and wind add their parts to the symphony.

A fire at night and the feel of sand and smoke.

The stars and darkness crashing.

Perched on the edge. Taking it all in.

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Stormy Skies at Maple Pass

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There many trails starting along the North Cascades Highway. The Pacific Crest Trail crosses at Bridge Creek, heading south. At Rainy Pass, on the north side, the PCT heads up to Cutthroat Pass. On the south side of the highway is the famous Maple Pass – Lake Ann Loop.

The trail is about 7 miles long, climbing from the road past a spur trail to Lake Ann and then heading up to Heather Pass. The views of Lake Ann along the way are super. The trail continues past Heather Pass up to a border with the North Cascades National Park and then turns, ascends a short distance to Maple Pass and the plunges down switch backs back to the parking area.

This August I wanted to go hike but the weather report called for storms in the mountains, however down in the valley, where I live the sky was blue, so I headed up and well…these images show the rest!

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Best of Boats, 2013

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I am not normally a “boat person” so I am not too sure how I would up with so many boating images this year, but I did and here are the best of them!

sunset boats 4 em Cypress Island

boat reflection Bellingham Bay Marina

boat 2_1em Cypress Island

boat 2rem Samish Bay Inlet

boat 3_1 em Cypress Island

sunset boats em Cypress Island

boat 3m Samish Bay Inlet

boat 4rem Samish Bay Inlet

marina5em Bellingham Bay Marina

boat 6em Samish Bay Inlet

boat 9em Samish Bay Inlet

marina4em Bellingham Bay Marina

boat 11em Samish Bay Inlet

boat 11M Samish Bay Inlet

boat 12em Samish Bay Inlet

cypress 1em Cypress Island

cypress 2em Cypress Island

cypress 3em Cypress Island

boat 7em Samish Bay Inlet

cypress 4em Cypress Island

kids Cypress Island

marina1em Bellingham Bay Marina

marina3em Bellingham Bay Marina

peter em Cypress Island

sunset boats 2em Cypress Island

sunset boats 3em Cypress Island

boat 1em Samish Bay Inlet

sunset em Cypress Island

Best of Tulip Images – 2013

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I am blessed, being so close to the Skagit Valley tulip fields (not to mention the North Cascades and a whole host of other marvelous places…)
I am reviewing more than 40 photo shoots from this year, eight of which were visits to the flower fields. Here is a sampling of this years best images. infinite pinks em

infinite rows em

pink close-up em

pink infinity em

Pink sunset 2em

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Pink sunset 4em

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pinkish em

pinks standing em

reds reflected em

Row of Red Tulips em

Skagit Valley Daffodils em

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Skagit Valley Daffodils3em

Skagit Valley Daffodils5em

Skagit Valley Daffodils6em

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Wildlife of the North Cascades

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Visiting the North Cascades National Park often offer the possibility of encountering some local denizens. Some of the locals I have run into are: mountain goats (usually at higher altitudes, looking for salt); Black Bears (most often in August, busy foraging); and Deer, of all varieties. I have also had the good fortune to cross paths with salmon, marmots, pika and ptarmigan. 2 years ago I had a close (well, not that close) encounter with a wolverine in the Entiat Mountains and a Grizzly Bear in the Pasayten Wilderness, about a Mile from the Canada border. Alas, no pictures of these last two!

Mountain Goat at Sahale Camp, North Cascades National Park Mountain Goat at Sahale Camp, North Cascades National Park

andyporter_Mountain goat at Sahale Glacier Camp, North Cascades National Park Mountain Goat at Sahale Camp, North Cascades National Park

Visitor at Sahale Glacier Camp, North Cascades National Park Visitor at Sahale Glacier Camp, North Cascades National Park

Goat on Sahale Arm North Cascades National Park Goat on Sahale Arm North Cascades National Park

Bear at Horseshoe Basin Bear at Horseshoe Basin, North Cascades National Park

Bear at Horseshoe Basin 1 Bear at Horseshoe Basin, North Cascades National Park

Bear5em Bear at Horseshoe Basin, North Cascades National Park

Bear crossing Park Creek Pass Bear crossing Park Creek Pass, North Cascades National Park

Bear on the PCT Black Bear on the Pacific Crest Trail, North Cascades National Park

salmon 5em Salmon Spawning, Indian Creek, North Cascades National Park

salmon 24em Salmon Spawning, Indian Creek, North Cascades National Park

chilliwack salmon Salmon Spawning, Indian Creek, North Cascades National Park

Chilliwack Salmon Salmon Spawning, Indian Creek, North Cascades National Park

salmon 3em Salmon Spawning, Indian Creek, North Cascades National Park

salmon 4em Salmon Spawning, Indian Creek, North Cascades National Park

Deer at Cascade Pass Deer, just above Cascade Pass, North Cascades National Park

deer em Deer, just above Cascade Pass, North Cascades National Park

andyporter_Deer_Sahale 2 Deer, just above Cascade Pass, North Cascades National Park

Skykomish Valley, Washington

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This summer I visited Skykomish Valley, in Snohomish County, on assignment for Cascade Loop magazine.
Here are a few images!

Skykomish River Rafting 1 Boulder Drop Rapids

Skykomish River Rafting 7 Boulder Drop Rapids

Bridal Vail Falls 2 Bridal Veil Falls

Wallace Falls person Wallace Falls

Wallace Falls at the trailhead Wallace Falls at the trailhead

Wallace Falls on the trail Wallace Falls on the trail

Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival Fireworks Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival Fireworks

Dance 14 Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival

arts and crafts sale 3 Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival

Bouncy 1m Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival, Bouncy House

Ferry m Mukilteo Ferry

Lighthouse 6 Mukilteo Lighthouse
Dahlia Farm, Sky Valley - 3 Farm of Flowers, Monroe

Dahlia Farm, Sky Valley - 4 Farm of Flowers, Monroe

Skykomish River, Mount Index Skykomish River, Mount Index

Pond along Reiter Road Pond along Reiter Road

Stockings Farm Market -3 Autumn Farm Market

Stockings Farm Market -10 Stockings Farm Market

Goldbar Indoor Fall Basketball Goldbar Indoor Fall Basketball

Index Index

Railroad Tracks - 2, Goldbar Railroad Tracks, Goldbar

Enchantments

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The Enchantments is an area with in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, near Leavenworth, Washington.

Crammed into a small area there are myriad lakes, tarns and jagged peaks. One of the many allures of the Enchantments are the larches which turn bright orange and yellow in the fall. The juxtaposition of (hopefully) blue skies, green spruce, orange larch and as we encountered, white snow, is a wonder on the eyes!

To camp overnight requires a permit. To get a permit involves entering a lottery and hoping for good luck!

Earlier this year I decided to apply for the permits and was lucky enough to win a permit for October. However the weather at the start of October was horrific, high winds, a veritable deluge of rain and in the upper alpine zones, snow. By the time my allotted time came around things started to brighten up, and so, off I went.

enchatments 1em Parking area

enchatments 2em Foot Bridge at the start…

enchatments 3em Fall Colors on the way up

I managed to recruit two hardy souls to come along and we headed over Stevens Pass to Leavenworth and on up to the Snow Lakes Trail head. the first days hike was a little more than 10 miles and 4,000feet of elevation gain and we camped out on a sand bar along the shore of Upper Snow Lake.
enchatments 7em Upper Snow Lake
Day two brought partly sunny skies and we hoisted our heavy packs for the 4 mile hike up to Lake Viviane. The trail was steep in spots and there was much snow. The area around the lake was very windy, and it took some time to find a flat, sheltered place for the tent.
enchatments 20em Lake Viviane

enchatments 11em Lake Viviane

enchatments 19em Lake Viviane
The snow was as much as 2 to 3 feet deep in places. But so many people had traveled over the path that hiking was relatively easy.

At night I tried a few starry sky shots…
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The 3rd day we awoke early to more sun and clouds and headed further up, on towards the Upper Lakes.
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The mix of clouds, sky, larch and snow was perfect.
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Leprechaun Lake was especially photogenic!
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By late afternoon the skies looked decidedly dark and so we made our way back down to Upper Snow Lake and back to the car the next day…

I am definitely planning on entering the lottery again for the next years hiking season!