garibaldi provincial park

High in the Pacific Northwest

The short summer season leaves very little room to explore the mountains. So when July comes around, I try to take every opportunity to head to the vast wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.

This year, it will likely be a different experience: the pandemic will most certainly shape the number of people I go with and limit interactions in the outdoors. It also will remove one of my favorite parts of hiking: the post-hike burger, beer and ice-cream, which will most likely be relegated to flimsy takeouts.

Nevertheless, I still hope to head outdoors, and capture the wonder that is the wonderland of the Pacific Northwest.

Here are four images from different parts of Washington and British Columbia, showcasing the endless mountain-scape of rugged peaks with mighty glaciers and volcanoes interspersed amongst them.

Oh Garibaldi

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going

The thought ran in my mind on the seemingly endless rocky ascent. In the distance, I spied the summit, people like ants. The gentle sun sprayed warmth, while the draft from a nearby glacier spattered cool air. The trail disappeared into a rockfall, with nary a cairn to mark the way up.

It became steeper near what I thought was the end, but just like every black cloud has a silver lining, every steep ascent ends with remarkable views, like this one of Garibaldi Lake just outside Whistler.

Garibaldi Provincial Park

BC Canada

Night Time Surprises

Sometimes the night sky can put up a show.

After 36 hours of watching nothing but grey clouds meandering slowly above the wilderness campsite in Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia, I had given up hoping for a clear night sky. And hence, when the clouds finally parted revealing the beautiful night sky, I couldn't resist the opportunity to capture a timelapse. And While mild auroral activity was predicted, I wasn't confident I would capture it this far south. I was certainly surprised when one of the frames turned up a bright red display of colors that lasted ~30mins.

The northern arm of the Milky Way crosses the frame to the right of the North Star, with the bright disk of the Andromeda Galaxy in the upper right corner.

Garibaldi Provincial Park

BC Canada

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Sunstars

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While a part of my weekend time is spent looking at my photo archives for jogging my memories, a part of it is also spent gathering inspiration for future travel. And sometimes, looking at my archives can motivate me to seek new destinations.

This was one such archival set - a backpack I did into the coastal range of British Columbia into the heart of Garibaldi Provincial Park. While exploring opportunities to shoot by the lake at sunset, I found a small patch of fireweed catching the fire of the last light. This inspired me to start booking backpacking trips in this beautiful part of Cascadia.

Garibaldi Provincial Park

BC Canada

Standing Guard

It was unmistakeable: the characteristic lines formed by boulders being dragged against their will on the hard strata below me. The glacier must have most-certainly flown over this outcropping years ago. And I looked around for more pieces of evidence, the glacial moraine, the barren scree, the U-shaped valley, and it was clear that the tiny Wedgemount glacier has most certainly retreated atleast a mile in the last century.

I turned around, and the vast glacial basin stretched in front of me, dominated by the teal blue Wedgemount lake. Once upon a time, the glacier must have lapped its shores, but all that remains now is the dry rocky moraine left behind by the glacier on its retreat upslope. The line between the vegetation-less slippery scree and the green treeline that extended a mile along the lake traced the original highline of the glacier. Now it is but a shadow of its former self.

Wedgemount glacier still survives, and still remains one of the more easily accessible glaciers of southern Vancouver, but at it's current pace of retreat thanks to global warming, not for long; it's dying embers will tell a story of its glorious past in the glorious mountains of the coastal range, and preserved only in memories and in photographs.

A lone inuksuk stood guard that day over the basin, possibly erected as a memory of Wedgemount's storied history.

Garibaldi Provincial Park
BC Canada

 

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Greys of the Pacific Northwest

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It was one of those grey Pacific Northwest days, where the moisture-laden clouds from the Pacific blanket much of the landscape here. I had been hiking through a dense foggy temperate rainforest, hoping for a break and the clouds. But it wasn't unti…

It was one of those grey Pacific Northwest days, where the moisture-laden clouds from the Pacific blanket much of the landscape here. I had been hiking through a dense foggy temperate rainforest, hoping for a break and the clouds. But it wasn't until the very top did I break out of the clouds.

Up from that rocky vista point, I spied a beautiful amalgam of the rocky peaks floating above the clouds which had settled in the valleys below, permeating the dense carpet of conifers. The mesmerizing motion of the clouds put me in a trance on that rocky outcrop, and I let time go by despite the long day that was ahead of me. I closed in on one of the rocky slopes that showed the beautiful line of trees indulging the moisture-laden mist.

Garibaldi Provincial Park
BC Canada

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