RHH's photos with the keyword: washington pass

I posted a photo of some Glacier Lilies yesterday. Here are some close-ups taken several weeks earlier near Washington Pass in the North Cascades.

I posted a photo of some Glacier Lilies yesterday. Here are some close-ups taken several weeks earlier near Washington Pass in the North Cascades.

I posted a photo of some Glacier Lilies yesterday. Here are some close-ups taken several weeks earlier near Washington Pass in the North Cascades.

I posted a photo of some Glacier Lilies yesterday. Here are some close-ups taken several weeks earlier near Washington Pass in the North Cascades.

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.

If you follow the North Cascades highway east through Rainy Pass and Washington Pass there is an overlook at Washington Pass just before the road descends from the mountains to Mazama and Winthrop. This photo was taken at the overlook and show Snagtooth Ridge across the valley through which the highway runs.

This photo was taken by my wife at the Washington Pass overlook on the North Cascades Highway. I had gone on ahead and this Stellar's Jay flew down near her and stayed long enough for her to get a number of great pictures. In our experience they are usually more wary and tend to scream from the trees at nearby folk, but this one seemed very used to people.

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

Taken as we traveled through Washington Pass on August 8 on our way to eastern Washington. The sunrise was spectacular and we pulled off the highway to take photos. The ragged peaks of Kangaroo Ridge are just visible in the center of the picture.

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.

This is another view of Washington pass taken from the roadside shown in the picture below. That picture was taken from the overlook shown in this picture, the flat area above the sheer cliff on the left. In this picture Kangaroo Ridge and Snagtooth Ridge are shown on the right with the road to Winthrop at the bottom of the picture. This view looks east down the pass and the picture below looks west and up the pass.

This photo was taken Thanksgiving Day. We had some responsibilities to take care of in the morning and left home about 1:00pm for eastern Washington. We knew we would miss Thanksgiving Day dinner with family anyway and so we decided to take the North Cascades Highway across the mountains, since the pass was still open, rather unusual for this time of the year. By the time we got into the mountains, however, the sun was setting, and though we managed to get some pictures, this being one of them, we traveled the rest of the way in the dark. We had hoped to stop for dinner along the way at a restaurant, but nothing was open on the holiday and Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be some burritos and fried chicken at a gas station. Anyway, this is Cutthroat Peak, just west of Washington Pass in the last light of the day. We must have been nearly the last to get through the pass, too, because it closed the next day for the rest of the winter. There are more pictures from the trip at the link below.

This is an early morning telephoto shot from the overlook at Washington Pass of Kangaroo Ridge (in front) and Snagtooth Ridge (in back). Both Ridges are east of Washington Pass and the North Cascades Highway, as it drops down from the pass circles around these ridges to the west and north. Both are favorite climbing areas. "Snagtooth Ridge is a perfect name, but I have no idea where the name "Kangaroo Ridge" comes from.

This is another shot taken from the overlook at Washington Pass, as also the photo below. This view shows the road, Highway 20 or the North Cascades Highway dropping down from the pass toward Mazama and Winthrop, Washington. The cluster of peaks on the right is the Liberty Bell Group, considered one of the forty best climbs in the USA. Liberty Bell Mountain is on the right with Lexington and Concord Towers next to it and Early Winters Spires on the left.

Taken from the viewpoint at Washington Pass, this photo looks east over the pass. Because the area is so exposed and because it receives so much snow (there was still 70 feet of snow in the pass in 2012 when they began to open it in the spring), there are also a lot of dead trees up at the viewpoint that make for interesting pictures. We went through the pass yet last week, but it is now closed for the winter.

Liberty Bell is a prominent peak in the North Cascades, just south of Washington Pass and along the North Cascades Highway. Actually this photo is of a group of peaks called the Liberty Bell Group, and also includes Concord Tower, Lexington Tower, North Early Winters Spire, and South Early Winters Spire. Liberty Bell is the peak on the right, with Concord Tower just to its left, Lexington Tower the next spire, and Early Winters North and South the prominent cone shaped mass on the left of the group. They are all in Chelan County, Washington, and the photo was taken from an overlook across the pass from these peaks, a place we often stop when traveling the highway and one of the most scenic spots in the North Cascades.

One of the landmarks along the North Cascades Highway and a favorite spot for climbers. This was taken from the overlook above Washington Pass just before the descent along the east side of the Cascades to Winthrop, Washington.

This was the weather we came through last week when we traveled across the state to Spokane. The pass had been closed two days earlier and we found snow-covered roads on the way to Spokane and the pass closed for several hours on our way home. This shot was taken early in the morning and in attempting to get this shot from the top of a snowbank I sank into the snow up to my waist and had to crawl out. Thankfully, my camera is relatively waterproof.