Day 200: Nice ice

Today's unexpectedly good weather gave us an excuse to rethink our original plans and hike up to Wedgemount Lake instead. The trail up to the lake was as steep as I remember (and much more slippery given the recent wet weather), and the compacted icy snow at the top of the slope made things a little tricky. The lake, of course, was stunning - the south shore scree slopes were dusted in white right down to the green water's edge, while the surrounding peaks and glaciers shone brightly against the occasional patches of blue sky.

Our goal for the day was to touch the Wedgemount Glacier and to see the ice cave we'd seen in other photos. We reached the end of the lake and climbed up the boulders to get our first view of the cave and were stunned to see how large it was. Maria walked closer and I got a couple of photos which captured its size quite well, the deep blue ice an even greater contrast with all the fresh snow surrounding us. The glacier even creaked a couple of times, which was heart-stopping given how close we were :-) We hung around for quite a while, taking plenty of pictures, but really mostly just in awe of the spectacle of the blue ice. It was hard to leave such a stunning place.

Ice cave

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.