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Washington's Cascades

A huge suncup-covered snowfield in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. This photo was taken in mid-June at about 5,000 feet!

A raging White River

One of the most beautiful scenes from the entire Great Western Loop -- the Napeequa River Valley in Glacier Peak Wilderness. There are few more quintessential scenes of the North Cascades than this one -- a perfect U-shaped valley carved by ancient glaciers, snow- and glacier-capped ridges and peaks, and a rock flour-filled river meandering through a river bottom of lush grasses, leafy plants, and alder.

Raging rivers in Washington

Avalanches are so frequent and predictable in the Cascades (due to the volume of snow and the sheer valley walls) that there are numerous "avalanche chutes" where evergreens never take root because they get taken out before they can mature. Instead, trail-covering alders, maple vine, and devils club fill in these places.

Scott Williamson and now-wife Michelle, who were hiking the PCT southbound for their honeymoon.

The Agnes Creek Valley, near the remote town of Stehekin, got creamed by a winter windstorm, and trail crews had yet to clear it out, making this 12-mile stretch one of the slowest that I have ever hiked. Because Agnes Creek is in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area, trail crews are unable to use chainsaws, instead having to rely on old 2-man saws.

The Stehekin Bakery, one of the best places along the entire Pacific Crest Trail.

A beautiful stretch of trail in the Pasayten Wilderness.

The northern junction of the Pacific Crest Trail and the Pacific Northwest Trail is near Castle Pass, about 4 miles from the Canadian border. At this point I began going east towards Glacier National Park.

More windstorm damage, this time exacerbated by spruce bark beetles, which had weakened or killed many spruces.

A cut of an sub-alpine fir, the core of which looked like "butternut squash," as described by the local trail crew.

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