RHH's photos with the keyword: liberty bell

This is where we were at sunrise this morning (October 9th). We had timed our trip from eastern Washington through the North Cascades to be here at sunrise, intending to hike to Blue Lake, an alpine lake behind these spires. We discovered to our dismay that the trail was very icy and since we did not have micro-spikes we decided not to risk a fall. Instead we watched the sunrise from the lookout at Washington Pass, catching the first light on the Liberty Bell Group. This group includes (from left to right in the photo) Early Winters Spires, Lexington Tower, Concord Tower and Liberty Bell. These spires are rated some of the best climbs in North America.

The Blue Lake trail is one of our favorite autumn hikes. We love the changing color of the Alpine Larches and hiking near the Liberty Bell group of peaks is an added bonus. The peak shown is the western-most of the group, the Liberty Bell and we are looking at the peak from the south, a view gotten only by hiking. The inset shows the whole group of peaks from the north across the highway and from the Washington Pass overlook. In that photo, Liberty Bell is the peak on the far right.

Here is an autumn photo from Heather Pass in the North Cascades.The photo was taken looking back down the trail and to the northeast. Among the peaks visible in the distance is Liberty Bell. North Cascades Highway runs just below the Liberty Bell group of peaks.

On our way to eastern Washington last week we hiked the Heather-Maple Pass loop in the North Cascades just off the North Cascades Highway. We did about 8.5 miles and climbed 2000 feet circling Lake Ann, the lake in the photo. We also did a side trail to the lake itself. The photo was taken from the first of two passes, Heather Pass, and looks northeast over Lake Ann with Whistler Mountain and the Liberty Bell group in the distance. Our trail can be seen along the side of the mountain on the left side of the photo. We had a beautiful day for hiking and the autumn colors were wonderful, though the larches were only just beginning to change color.

These peaks are the Liberty Bell Group and include from right to left, Liberty Bell, Concord Tower, Lexington Tower and Early Winters Spires. The group dominates the area of Washington Pass and the photo was taken from the viewpoint on the opposite side of the pass, part of which is visible in the photo (the beautiful lady is my wife). We spent several hours here on a November morning before going on to hike up to Blue Lake which is on the back side of these peaks. The peaks are also considered among the forty best climb in North America. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2014/12/washington-pass.html

This is where we were last week Friday. We've had the wettest October on record and finally had some sunshine at the end of last week. My wife and I decided to spend the day in the mountains and after driving through North Cascades National Park went to the Washington Pass overlook from which this picture was taken. The Liberty Bell Group of peaks include (from right to left ) Liberty Bell, Concord Tower, Lexington Tower and North and South Early Winters Spires. These are considered among the best climbs in North America and lie about a mile south of Washington Pass. After spending some time at the overlook taking pictures, we went a ways back west to the Blue Lake trailhead and hiked around behind these peaks to Blue Lake. As is obvious from the pictures there is snow in the mountains and a good part of our hike was on snow-covered trails, but the snow was not deep enough that we needed snowshoes, though we had brought them along. We had our lunch at Blue Lake in an old ruined cabin and then headed back down to the car and home.