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Category Archives: North Cascades Institute

Last weekend I had a wedding to photograph at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center on Diablo Lake. It’s a beautiful location and a terrific venue for a wedding. There are rooms for guests to stay and wonderful food – much of it locally sourced. Diablo Lake is just over the crest of the North Cascades via Highway 20. It is one of three dammed reservoirs on the Skagit River and its color is a wonderful turquoise from the glacial runoff of the high mountains. To get to the learning center, you have to cross Diablo Dam, an old structure, quite unlike the dams of the Columbia River. Sunday morning we had a nice hike to Sourdough Falls before returning home.

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This hike, starting at Rainy Pass on Highway 20 is a local favorite.
We did the loop clockwise.
Maple Pass hike
Maple Pass hike
That’s the North Cascades Highway way down below us.
Maple Pass hike
The last of the switchbacks behind us.
Maple Pass hike
On top of the world
Maple Pass hike
Glacier Peak is on the left, shrouded in clouds.
Maple Pass hike
And down the other side
Maple Pass hike
We were up there.
Maple Pass hike
It’s a dog cookie he was crunching.
Maple Pass hike
Just one of the many views of Lake Anne.
Maple Pass hike
Which way now?
Maple Pass hike
Columbine
Maple Pass hike
Maple Pass hike
A parting view of Lake Anne. The high point of our hike is on the top left and then the trail followed the ridge and down on the right.
Maple Pass hike
Maple Pass hike

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Scenes from the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. I was there for a class called ‘Will Write for Change’ put on by the North Cascades Institute.

diablo lake

red maple leaves

big canoe

moss and lichen

grass and light

leaf and pebbles

diablo dam