The area near Hart’s Pass has always been a favorite of mine. You can drive all the way up to subalpine meadows. (once the road is open … and what a road … not for those nervous about heights)
Unfortunately, a big section of what used to be the campground that I favored most burned several years ago. It’s still nice, but it has lost some of what made it special.
I took this one a couple years back … I took a series of them, actually. I never posted this one, thinking it was too similar to the one I did post. But as I was going through my archive, I was struck by this one. I love the way it connects the two mountains.
I took this from Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, Washington with a Nikon D850 and a 300mm lens with a 2x multiplier. Exposure was f/8 at 1/25 sec and ISO 100.
I played hooky from work one day in July 2003 and climbed up South Ingals peak. It has been one of my favorite areas in the Central Cascades … up the North Fork of the Teanaway River. That is Mt Rainier in the distance. I really liked the silver wood snag. This spot hasn’t seen any forest fires (yet), but the access road was the east perimeter of a large fire this summer. Below are some anemones growing in the rocks near where I took the upper photo.
A quarter mile walk up an abandoned road takes you to the summit of Blue Mountain and a panorama of spectacular views. This is the view to the east, showing Mt Baker in the distance and Admiralty inlet in the middle of the image … this is where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets Puget Sound (also known as the Salish Sea). What looks like an island in the right middle foreground is actually the north end of the Quimper Peninsula … location of my home town Port Townsend.
Note: while researching the course of the lower Gray Wolf River, I noticed that Green Mountain is west of Deer Park and the road above Deer Park climbs Blue Mountain. My mistake … I have called it Green Mt for years. Oops.
Lake Chelan is fjord-like. It is about 50 miles long (over 81 km) and averages 1.3 miles (2 km) wide. At the upper (north) end the lake lies between mountain ridges that soar up 6600 feet (2000 m). There is a boat that runs from the town of Chelan at the southern end to Stehekin at the north end. It makes a lovely day trip with stops at 25 Mile and Lucerne on the way.
