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Beautiful Earth
the e-newsletter of Eric Zamora
Hi [FIRSTNAME]
Right about now the deep forest green of the North Cascades is starting to stand out because not everything is so green. There is crimson and gold, yellow and orange. The air itself has changed too. It is brisk, containing signs of winter snows to come. Autumn is blossoming.
Right about now each year I ask myself where I will go to photograph autumn color in North America. This year I venture to the North Cascades.
Some big mountains, like what you see in Colorado, Montana or California, are inviting. You look out over the crumpled expanse and, with your heart open as much as your arms, embrace the view. Whether you penetrate the inviting wilderness or not, the desire for exploration is there, while the feeling of fear is not. Not true with the North Cascades.
These mountains don’t invite the spirit, they intimidate it. The heaviest snowfalls on earth bely the molten lava bubbling just below the surface of Mt. Baker, one of many active volcanoes that rise up like generals to an army of peaks. Ancient glaciers more than a mile thick excavated deep chasms between mountain ridges, shearing solid granite at the seams, leaving behind walls of rock topped by jagged aretes. In place of those ancient glaciers, a verdent forest grows impassibly thick. It is dark in there, and wet. Big things lurk in the shadows. Bear, elk, moose, wolf – everything that once lived in America in great numbers holds on in the deep recesses of the North Cascades.
Today, I fly to Seattle International Airport where I will board a bus north to Bellingham. My friend Erin Moore, communications director for the environmental nonprofit Conservation Northwest, will pick me up in Bellingham and take me to the end of one of the few roads that penetrate, albeit partially, the rugged North Cascades. Erin will leave me there, just below Cascade Pass, for me to begin my 104-mile, 14 day solo trek across North Cascades National Park, the crown jewel of the North Cascades.
This trek is at least as much about the trek itself – the adventure and challenge – as it is about photographing autumn color and stunning mountains. For nearly a decade I have dreamt of hiking for 28 days through a wilderness. This dream was born in light of crossing the crest of the North Cascades. This 14-day trek is a stepping stone to that goal. I will not cross the crest, I will ride it, as my origin and conclusion will be within the heart of these mountains. I will walk through ancient forests with trees more than a thousand years old, and over mountain passes that will put me into the clouds. I will be face to face with glaciers, and dip in pristine lakes. My eyes will marvel at the colors of nature in both heaven and earth.
This is takeoff. This is the adventure. And, using my photography, I will do all I can to bring you along, to show you beauty of the North Cascades, and to experience the adventure of the wilderness.
All my best,
Eric
www.ericzamora.com
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