High in the Pacific Northwest

Stormy evenings

Remnants of a thunderstorm hang around the Cascades near the Canadian Border

Wedgemount Glacier

The mighty Wedgemount glacier descends down to its meltwater lake replete with icebergs

Baker Sunset

Glacier Peak rises above the rest of the mountains when seen from Mt Baker Wilderness

Reflections of Baker

Mt Baker is reflected in a small glacial tarn in Mt Baker Wilderness

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.

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

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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