North Cascades, Washington 2020 & 2021
Living in the Pacific Northwest brings both struggle and beauty. Struggle in that the weather in the winter and spring can be dark, wet and rainy. Wet cold in some ways is more uncomfortable than dry, cold weather. in that it is invasive and bone-aching. The sun sets just after 4PM during the Winter Solstice, with only 8 hours of daylight. Days on end of dark, wet and cold weather can be depressing even for veteran locals.
The struggle in soggy, cold darkness is offset, however, with spectacular, clear and partly cloudy days and breath-taking views. Even in winter and spring, the weather can clear off and deliver crisp, clear brightness, albeit with a low mid-day sun. Even better, storms throughout fall, winter and spring display experiences and visuals of high drama. For or the weather enthusiast, living here feels ethereally heaven-esque.
In the Seattle area, visible mountains reside on horizons in all 4 directions of the compass. The North Cascades are one of these regions. Mount Baker is the obvious visual center, south of which is North Cascades National Park, with countless impressive peaks and wilderness areas throughout. Though the mountains in the Northwest are alpine environments, their elevation is relatively low compared to, say, the Sierras or Rockies. Mt. Baker, for example, is 10,800 feet, compared to a few thousand feet higher in the Sierras. This is primarily because the Cascade and Olympic mountains are all within 45 minutes or less from sea level.
During the offseason, in PNW’s alpine areas, it makes no difference that the elevations are “relatively low,” because they are still more than high enough to be inhospitably hostile, and rife with avalanches and other dangers. And downright miserable conditions for the inexperienced or unprepared.
Conditions which offer photogenic and hypnotic visuals can be difficult to predict. The weather forecast can fluctuate wildly, and unexpected breaks in the weather occur. Often when on an outing, I am blanked and shut down by dull or otherwise nondescript, gray weather. Other times, I am surprised and gifted with surreal, beautiful scenes that I will probably never again see in my life. Such an example exists in this selection of images, exhibiting surreally beautiful cloud formations. Moments like these define my physical and perceptual existence here in the PNW.
The images in this gallery were shot during summer 2020 and spring 2021. The differences are easily discernible by the levels of snow in the different frames, the spring images having more visible snow. Granite formations are characteristically darkened and heavily eroded from millenia of stormy weather, heavy snow and grinding ice. Resultingly, they bear tangible character, complexity and personality. Just like people in North America differ by region, this is also true of the continent’s mountains and rocks. Scenes such as these are always worthwhile of lengthy and satisfying visual wanderings.
This gallery also contains what may appear at first glance an unlikely inclusion: that of the Corn Lily, or rather, the Veratrum plant. Veratrum is an herbaceous perennial which grows on the slopes and alpine meadows of the mountains here in the PNW, as well as in other moderate elevations and environments throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
I have included the Veratrum here because they signify to me the character and feel of the alpine meadow environments. There is a wealth of other flora in these areas, dazzling wildflowers and such. Veratrum, however, is a brilliant subject for black and white photography due to the stripes and striations of the leaves. When in its early seasonal growth, the wide leaves unfurl with enchantingly graceful curves and corkscrew shapes. Another special image of Veratrum may be seen on the About page of this site.
September, 2021