favorite places
Huntoon Point
North Cascades National Park, Washington
Text & Photography By Bob FaucherLocation
Less than three hours from Seattle, an
alpine landscape beckons. Here, you can
discover communities of life adapted to
moisture in the west and recurring fire in
the east, explore jagged peaks crowned
by more than 300 glaciers, listen to cas-
cading waters in forested valleys and wit-
ness a landscape sensitive to the Earth’s
changing climate in the ecological heart
of the Cascade Mountains—North Cas-
cades National Park.
The park offers a full range of camping
experiences, from a car or RV to a boat
or wilderness trek. There are countless
backcountry routes and possibilities in
this wild land. Intrepid hikers, backpack-
ers and climbers ply the trails of the park
throughout the year. However, the more
common hiking season stretches from
April through October. The driest and
most popular time to visit is during the
summer months of mid-June through Sep-
tember. Keep in mind that higher elevation
trails often remain snow-covered well into
July and sometimes August. Precipitation
and snowfall are greatest from November
through March. The park’s winters are
wet and snowfall is heavy. Access is often
limited during these winter months by
impassable or closed roads, so be sure to
check the park conditions report.
Isolated and dominating the northwestern
reaches of the park lies the oft-photographed
Mount Shuksan (9,131 feet), which towers
more than 8,400 feet above Baker Lake only
6 miles to the south. Access is easy year-
round on Washington State Route 542 by
car (chains are often required during the
fall and winter months) as this is the home
of the Mt. Baker Ski Area.Weather
Like much of the West Coast, the Cas-
cades are often plagued by many summer
and early-fall wildfires with smoke chok-
ing the air. What I sought was to docu-ment the rugged mountain environment
with some fall color. Unlike the forests
in the Northeastern United States, the
Cascades are principally coniferous, with
some patches of deciduous trees at lower
elevations. However, dwarf alpine ferns,
heaths and heathers can be spectacular in
the fall. As always in nature photography,
timing is everything.Photo Experience
During the first week of October, I drove
up to the Mt. Baker Ski Area and con-
tinued up to Artist Point. I then chose to
hike the Kulshan Ridge southeast to the
high spot at Huntoon Point, an easy 1.1-
mile trek with an elevation gain of 300
feet. From this perspective, the North
Cascades revealed themselves in a most
breathtaking fashion. Mount Shuksan was
gorgeous and the Border Peaks formed a
magnificent chorus line against the north-
ern horizon. Mt. Baker dominated all.
I made the hike from Artist Point to
Huntoon Point four times over two days,
one trip each morning and afternoon
because the mountains face the sun oppo-
site one another at those times. Those vistas
are wonderful, and I took advantage of the
conditions to make nice images of Baker
and Shuksan. Since those views are often
photographed, I was looking for some-
thing else—dramatic yet overlooked. What
I noticed every time I made my descent
along the trail was the dramatic andesite
plateau of Table Mountain and the swath
of color leading my eye to and across it.
I chose to photograph Table Moun-
tain on a clear-sky late afternoon to take
advantage of the quality of the light, the
long shadows and the translucent and
reflective properties of the alpine foli-
age. A gentle wind with brief periods
of calm compelled multiple exposures
to ensure the taller leaves and grasses
would be rendered motionless. In order
to maintain sharpness throughout thedepth of the image, multiple images at
varying focal distances were necessary.
Ultimately, select images were combined
into a focus stack. The result shows long,
dark shadows with the ferns, heathers and
bearberry on the flanks of Table Moun-
tain, as well as along the trail leading to
Huntoon Point, resplendent in fiery reds,
oranges and yellows. OPSee more of Bob Faucher’s work at
faucherphotography.com.28 Outdoor Photographer outdoorphotographer.com