The North Cascades are full of secrets. One must have a specific intention to discover the scenic treasures of the peaks, and that intention is usually accompanied …
Read More of An Upriver Life: The Skagit Beyond Highway 20
I watched quietly as each bend in the road revealed more of the steep, inaccessible wilderness that looms above Highway 20. It was my first couple of …
Read More of Seeking Spirituality in the North Cascades
“Cold is the colour of crystal the snowlight That falls from the heavenly skies” — Annie Lennox, “Cold” The first successive days of sub-freezing temperatures have transformed …
Read More of Cold Showing
Ordinarily, the fourth Thursday of November isn’t a big deal for me. I am a fisherman – if you’ve enjoyed salmon at the Environmental Learning Center, it …
Read More of Fisherman, Writer, Artist-in-Residence: Thankful
Even After All this time The sun never says to the earth, “You owe Me.” Look What happens With a love like that, It lights …
Read More of Alighting the Entire Sky: Happy Thanksgiving!
During a recent celebration at the Environmental Learning Center, I noticed Saul, our Executive Director, gesturing toward the compost building from the back deck of the dining …
Read More of It's the COMpost!: Welcome to the Black Morel
Morning tends to be an active time here at the Environmental Learning Center. Squirrels, chipmunks, and birds are always scurrying from place to place, looking for seeds …
Read More of Notes from the Porch: Of Predator and Prey
A group of Base Camp participants, Carla (a fellow summer naturalist), and I piled into a North Cascades Institute vehicle one morning in August. We were in …
Read More of Thank you, North Cascades Institute. Sincerely, a loving intern
Today is my last day of living at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center—my home since the spring of 2010 when I started working for North Cascades …
Read More of Saying goodbye…for now
Five weeks seems like a long time to spend in the North Cascades, but as the final days of my sabbatical from National Parks magazine approached, I …
Read More of Long Goodbyes
