Tag: Cascades

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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Lake 22

Lake 22 in winter

Lake 22 in east of the city of Everett, along the Mountain Loop Highway. It is one of the most heavily hiked trails in the Cascades. It is also the location of my first backpack trip back in the early ’60’s. I remember having to carry out the wet canvas tarp we used for a shelter … it rained and the little hollow we had set up camp in filled with water. It was only 2 miles or so downhill, but my pack weighed over 70 lbs when I got home. But that was long ago and in the summer. Nowadays, there is no overnight camping allowed. And they have added a boardwalk around most of the lake to protect the meadow areas.

Ridge above Lake 22

(More found images from my Archive Catalog)

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