Category: Cascade Mountains

Ingalls Peak (south summit)

Ingalls Peak — south summit

One of my favorite hikes in the past was to hike up the North Fork Teanaway (Esmerelda Basin) trail and then walk the ridge to the south summit of Ingalls Peak (above, the ridge for approach is on the left). It’s an moderately easy hike and can be made more interesting by continuing down the other side to the Long Pass Trail and returning to the trailhead with only a short double back.

Mt Stuart from the south summit of Ingalls Peak.

The view from the summit is wonderful, with the south face of Mt Stuart being the highlight. Stuart is the highest non-volcanic peak in Washington … and attracts a host of serious climbers. I prefer the more enjoyable saunter up South Ingalls.

Also from the summit, you have a stunning view north along the spine of the Central Cascades (below), including views of two of the Cascade volcanoes: Glacier Peak (on the right) and Mt Baker (in the distance on the left). Mt Rainier and Mt Adams are visible to the south (weather permitting).

View North from the Summit of South Ingalls.
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Old Hiking Photo

Starting out to cross the Cascades

Back in the ’60’s, one of my first long hikes was an attempted crossing of the Cascades using some ‘high routes’. A friend and I were going with just the two of us and (looking back on it) overly optimistic plans. The weather didn’t cooperate: we ended up getting snowed on for a day or so after the third day or so. Perhaps we were lucky that we decided to bail. The weather remained stormy for several days (it was mid-August and a cold front blew in). We hiked to the nearest road, hitched a ride into the nearest bus line. It was still an adventure … and probably safer than if we had continued. It would have been a rugged go, and I’m not sure we would have been able to keep up our schedule … even if we found the right track … since we were following ‘high routes’ for a lot of the time, we weren’t using trails. So route finding would have slowed us down … probably more than we expected.

That’s my pack and ice ax just after we departed Lucerne (Washington) a SMALL town along Lake Chelan that is boat only access. This is my only photo of the trip. Taken with a Kodak Instamatic, I believe. One of my earliest remaining images.

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My Oldest Image

Mt St Helens from Spirit Lake, June 1961

I don’t have a lot of images from when I was a kid … this is one of the few. I went with my Aunt Maisie and Uncle Dave up to Spirit Lake at Mt St Helens in June 1961. The top section of St Helens is now AWOL and Spirit Lake is totally different. The boat trip was a charter boat we took for a ride around the lake. The funny part of the camping trip was our arrival late at night on Friday. We set up camp in the dark, where we could find an open spot. We woke to find we had pitched our tent in the parking lot.

By the way, my Uncle Dave was who got me seriously interested in photography. This was about the time that he set me up with a darkroom and gave me his old Argus C-3 35mm rangefinder. However, this image was taken with a Kodak Brownie (a Hawkeye, I believe).

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Mt Baker and Eagle

Mt Baker and Eagle

Another image taken from Marrowstone Island. This one shows Mt Baker in the distance, but also an eagle sitting near the top of the Doug Fir. (Clicking on the image will increase the size and make it easier to spot the eagle) That tree is a regular perch for eagles, who watch for fish swimming by.

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Mt Baker and Fog Bank

Mt Baker and Fog Bank

Taken from Marrowstone Island, southeast of Port Townsend. The fog bank is hiding Whidbey Island. The water is the Admiralty Inlet area of Puget Sound. Mt Baker is catching the light of the sunset.

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