Day 109: A mountain called Garibaldi

Remember when Maria was in Seattle at Folklife? Same thing happened today. I ended up hiking solo again, but chose what I thought would be a busy trail so that I'd be found if something happened :-) As it turned out I saw no one on the way up, and maybe a dozen people on the way back: the first time we did this hike, our group alone was 22 people! I left the car at 7 am (ahem...!) and wended my way uphill, into the snow and over to the lovely just-beginning-to-melt Elfin Lakes.

As I reached the treeline in Red Heather meadows I caught a glimpse of a big mountain to my left. The clouds had just parted enough, and the gap in the trees was the perfect size to give me a beautifully-framed view of Atwell Peak, on the south side of Garibaldi. I thought it was a nice view at the time, and I grabbed it mostly because I didn't think I'd get another clear view. As it happened, I was right on that count: the clouds descended and I never saw the summit again.

Looking at the picture full size on the computer screen at home I found myself gawping at the detail. I like mountain photos, but it's rare that one really stands out as an amazing picture. I'd like to think that this photo is one of them.

Atwell Peak in morning light


I don't normally upload large photos to Flickr, but this one blew me away and I simply had to make it a bigger photo than usual. Click on it, then click on it again to see it larger. If you're one of our Flickr contacts, you'll have the option to view "original size". Do it and let the picture fill your screen.