Sahale Arm and Sahale Camp, North Cascades

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Andy Porter

The North Cascades are located in the northwestern part of Washington State, along the border with Canada.

Sahale Camp is the highest (7,600 ft.) official camp site in the North Cascades National Park.

The route follows the Cascade River and ascends to Cascade Pass, then swings onto Sahale Arm, a giant curving slope carpeted in grasses and wildflowers. The overall elevation gain is 4,000 feet.

The camp sits atop 3 mounds of glacial rubble, at the base of Sahale Peak.

To spend the night there is sublime. Over 12 years I was lucky enough to spend 15 nights there at the camp.

Here are some pictures from the trail.

Wildflowers. Sahale Arm is truly upholstered in bright, crazy colorful wildflowers.

In the fall the Arm comes alive again with color.

There are many magical moments to be had, there at the camp.

North Cascades National Park

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Andy Porter

Mount Logan, North Cascades National Park

In the last entry we explored the Northern Unit of the North Cascades National Park.

The Southern Unit of the North Cascades National Park is much more accessible than its northern sister. Lake Chelan created a natural route deep into the eastern flank of the North Cascades, a relatively short trek over Cascade Pass crosses into the western zone. This route was used by Native Americans, the village of Stehekin at the north end of Lake Chelan translates to “the way through”.

Once Cascade Pass was considered a possible route for what is now the North Cascades Highway but thankfully now is only reached on foot via a 3.7mile hike.

This is probably the most popular hike in the summer, a day hike to Cascade Pass and maybe up and onto Sahale Arm. Late July the wildflowers explode and it’s really a Sound of Music experience…

North Cascades National Park info on trails and permits.

Sahale Glacier Camp is my favorite camp site on Washington. I have stayed the night maybe 15 times.

: Sahale Camp

: North Cascades Fall

: Sahale Camp

: Sahale Camp

: Sahale Camp

: Sahale Camp

: Sahale Arm

: Doubtful Lake

: Sahale Arm

: Sahale Camp

: Sahale Camp

: Sahale Camp Panorama

: Lupine and the North Cascades

: Sahale Camp Visitor

: Sahale Camp

: Sahale Arm

: Doubtful Lake

: Cascade Pass

: Sunset at Sahale Camp

: Sunrise at Sahale Camp

The North Cascades National Park turns 50 this year! In October, 1968 the park was officially established. Lauren Danner has recently written a wonderful book “Crown Jewel Wilderness: Creating North Cascades National Park” that chronicles the efforts of many to protect the North Cascades.

From Cascade Pass the trail continues east, dropping through Pelton Basin, and then down the Doubtful Creek drainage. The trail bisects the creek in a wonderful spot on the way down…

Before you reach Basin Creek there is a spur trail heading around the shoulder of Sahale Peak and up to Horseshoe Basin. This is NOT a trail to pass up. It’s a short way up into the basin, a wide semicircle of granite teeth sit in a bed of ice, glistening. Impossibly green swards of meadow slash below and bright blue gleams above… you get the idea.

The upper basin is the home of the Black Warrior Mine. A going concern as recently as the 1950’s, the opening to the mine is carved into the headwall of the valley, several rooms are accessible, littered with the detritus of past inhabitants. A road once led from the mine entrance to Cottonwood Camp, and Stehekin, but little by little nature has won back. As recently as 2003 there was a tour bus that ran a daily route from Stehekin to Cottonwood Camp, barely 11 miles from Cascade Pass!

: Cascade Pass

: Horseshoe Basin

: Basin Creek Bridge

: Horseshoe Basin

: Upper Horseshoe Basin

: Horseshoe Basin

: Cascade Pass

: Doubtful Creek

: Horseshoe Basin

: Black Warrior Mine

: Black Warrior Mine

: Black Warrior Mine

: Black Warrior Mine

: Basin Creek

: Basin Creek

The American Alps Legacy Project is a coalition working to protect more than 237,000 acres of pristine wild country, from Baker Lake to Washington Pass. Their proposal is to expand the North Cascades National Park. You can learn more here.

In the next post we’ll visit Stehekin, Park Creek Pass and the North Fork of Bridge Creek.

Fine Art and Canvas Prints of these and more images here.

Information about North Cascades Photo Tours here.

Buckner Mountain from Park Creek Trail

These are just a few of the many spectacular hikes in the park. Your opportunities for adventure are endless.

I am planning trips to both Whatcom Pass and Park Creek Pass this summer, to celebrate the 50^th Birthday of the Park.

Hope to see you out on the trail.

National Park Astrophotography

Posted on February 4, 2017 by Andy Porter

This recent blog article on Astrophotography from the National Park Foundation included one of my images from Sahale Glacier Camp in the North Cascades National Park. What an awesome bunch of images!

Here is the image and here is the link!

Sahale Camp Photomerge

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Andy Porter

Photomegre is one of the multitude of Photoshop Tools. It is a system of merging 2 or more images into a panorama.
Here are two original jpeg images from Sahale Glacier Camp. I took these with the thought in mind to later merge them. using a tripod I captured one image and carefully swung the camera on the tripod and lined up the second one. It wasn’t any fancy movement, I made note in my mind of where the frame’s edge was and pointed the camera in the approximate place to take up where the first image left off, planning for some overlap. I was using a 24 mm lens. I set my image quality when capturing the images so that I would have both a RAW file and a jpeg of the shots.

Once back home I opened both of the raw files together in Photoshop CS6 and synchronized them so that what ever changes I made to one were duplicated on the other. I worked to lighten the foreground and darken the sky. Using the sliders for highlights, shadows, exposure, clarity, whites and contrast I played around until I liked the result.

I also used the brush tool on the foreground to bring out more details on the rocks.

I saved the images as jpeg files. Here they are.

Once this was done and images saved I went to Photomerge, selected the two modified images and let Photoshop work its magic.

Opening the panorama as a jpeg image I filled in the corners using the clone stamp tool and tweaked the levels settings a bit, and Viola! Here is the final image.

I have printed the image as a 40″ x 15″ canvas print and it is very stunning.

Sahale Camp Panoramas

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Andy Porter

Sahale Glacier Camp sits at the base of Sahale glacier atop 3 piles of rubble each crowned with a ring of stone. The views are breathtaking: a 180 degree sweeping view of the North Cascades, a sea of peaks stretching out to the horizon.

I have visited many times and tried to capture the feel of the view. Here are several panoramas, some from sunrise, and several from sunset, each comprised of two or more images merged.

Wildflowers of Washington

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Andy Porter

My three favorite places to experience wildflower explosions are:
1. The Pasayten Wilderness. Here you’ll hike through acres of nothing but wildflowers, as far as you can see. And I don’t mean clumps of flowers here and there, but solid unending hillsides and ridgetops.

2. Goat Rocks Wilderness. The south side of the Goat Rocks, along the PCT near Snowgrass Flats has some of the brightest, most colorful, died and gone to flower heaven displays.

3. Sahale Arm, North Cascades National Park. Here the backdrop for the flowers is absolutely magnificent, the jagged peaks surrounding Cascade Pass juxtaposing with the flowers for a truly breathtaking effect.