Winter is coming...to Soggy Saddle

 Winter is coming...to Soggy Saddle. Whatcom Foothills. Here's the other side of the Saddle seen through a snowy day.

Mar and me walking through the snow

A Perfect Day with the Buddies, Canyon Ridge, October 24th, 2015

October 24th was my birthday and I did what I most like to do: an Autumn hike in the Mount Baker wilderness with my buddies. We took the Canyon Ridge trail through high mountain old growth forest with ancient hemlocks, silver fir, Doug fir. Dry mushrooms--boletes, russula--marked our path. An owl hooted in the distance. The mountain was grand, the trail especially quiet, with the exception of a stellar's jay that followed us along the way, making its squawking noises. Here we  Buddies are together looking out at Mount Baker in its glory.

 Clouds forming over Mount Baker on the lonely trail out to Canyon Ridge.

 Happy Mar enjoying his forest walk.

 What has been hitting me lately in our walks is the intricate textures of each overlook. A variety of trees at different ages, avalanche chutes, complex valleys--could you imagine an overland walk to the point on the upper right portion of the picture?

As a gift to ourselves, a birthday gift for me and a 6 and 1/2-year anniversary gift to ourselves, we got these shiny objects to display our buddy power. Made by Jerrod Galanin, a Tlingit Unangan multi-media artist from Sitka, Alaska. Kirsten's ring has a raven on it and my bracelet has a bear eating a salmon. With both of our spirit animals represented, we have Buddy Power!

We came down the mountain and had a delightful pizza and some lovely porter at The North Fork Brewery and Beer Shrine​. 

Bell Pass

Easton Glacier on the South Side of Mount Baker from the lonely Bell Pass trail.

Pensive Mar

Fleeting Lu

ELECTRO-STAY

 An ecotone is a region of transition between two biological communities. In this case, the wild backside of a wilderness full of cougars and bears meets the front porch of a seaside community and its electrical supply. We sat under this electrical substation, the wires buzzing. It would have been a perfect place to see a cougar or an alien.

The electrical field must have been so powerful that it completely fouled my navigational device, which put us somewhere off the coast of West Africa. It was a strange portal we walked into. 

Rainbow Ridge...the backside of Mount Baker

Eyeing adventure

Adventure Buddies

Mar and a deep basin of glaciers, scree, and bears popping out from dark hollows.

A resting point.

The reflection of Mount Bacon on Watson Lake # 1.

Glassing goats

Entering The Portals: A 2015 visit to Ptarmigan Ridge

Photographer on the edge. Entering the Portals, a route climbers take to reach the summit of Mount Baker.

Baker Lake in the distance

Mount Shuksan looming large from Artist Point.

Glaciers and rugged rock.

Glaciers and rock.

What a day and what a backdrop to capture images of nature.

A perfect end to the day.

Fall in rugged British Columbia

This bright orb was not the sun but the unmuted, bright moon, as close to the earth as it will be for who knows how many years, its light shimmering on our canoe in the wild rugged BC ranch lands. Imagine the sounds of a great horned owl serenading. We came face to face with him the following morning.

A cold night camping in BC. 20-something Fahrenheit or - 4 Celsius made for dew on our tent.

Mar with fall foliage of aspens and cottonwoods.

Buddies running together, being together, always together, that's the best thing in the world.