Postcards from the North Cascades

Journal Entry #39

August 25, 2022

In my last blog I waxed poetic about two of the National Parks we visited in the past two months, North Cascades and Glacier. Several of my readers astutely pointed out that all of my photographs in the blog were of Glacier and asked “what happened to North Cascades? Why were no Cascades images included?”

Substack is a terrific platform for writing this journal and sharing with readers but I have found that it will give me a “Near Email Length Limit” message if I have a significant number of images and if the written piece is a longer one. I imagine there is some technical reason for the “this is too long” message. I haven’t figured out exactly what the magic threshold of words and images is, but do I take the message as a cue that I need to do some thoughtful editing. So, as I was writing and adding images to my last entry, I got the dreaded warning message. Edit time! Since the primary “character” mentioned in the story was Glacier NP, I made the (difficult) decision to select only photographs from that part of our journey and edit out the North Cascades shots.

I was particularly moved by one reader who along with the mentioning the Cascades omission wrote, “I follow your adventures with awe, admiration, and anticipation. You MUST try to get this adventure published at some point in the coming year. It is worthy for sure.”

It so heartened me to think that people are enjoying these accounts and paying attention to the pictures enough to catch absences like these.

So, dear readers, here are some “postcards” from the North Cascades in Washington. I will say that one of the hikes we made during our visit, the 8.5 mile Maple Pass Loop hike, was breathtaking and easily makes my “top 10 hikes ever” list. Enjoy!

Hike to Blue Lake. Heather in bloom. Water SO clear you can see the detail of the rocks and logs below the surface

Blue Lake from a bit higher up. Now the crystalline water is a surreal aquamarine blue

Spectacular reflection on Blue Lake

Lunch spot at Blue Lake

The “Crown Jewel” of the North Cascades, Diablo Lake. Amazing color created by sun as it hits Glacial flour (suspended glacial silt particles)

Lovely rapid stream on our steep ascent on Maple Pass Loop

Reaching the tree line, Maple Pass Loop

Snowy peaks above Rainy Lake, Maple Pass Loop

Exhilarating to be on top of the world

Snowfields on the pass

Descent to Lake Ann on the return

Shady “home sweet home” tucked amongst ferns and pines