Tag: Bear Mountain

Summer Vacation 2016 — Part IV: Mount Baker

It was finally time to move to another area in the North Cascades and we decided that Mount Baker would provide some interesting hikes.

We departed the Cascades Pass Road and returned to Marblemount NPS Ranger Station to refill our water bottles. Unfortunately, their water system had problems and was not safe to drink. It’s interesting that all the campsites and campgrounds we visited either had no water or had water problems. Luckily, we carried a 5-gallon jug of water and still had enough for a few more days.

We stopped at the USFS Ranger station on our way to Mount Baker to get water–and it was closed for scheduled maintenance. But there was water available outside so we finally had a chance to refill.

Panoramic view on the start of the trail with <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Shuksan' target='_blank'>Mt. Shuksan (left)</a> and <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Baker ' target='_blank'>Mt. Baker (right)</a>.
Panoramic view on the start of the trail with Mt. Shuksan (left) and Mt. Baker (right).
Wildflowers along Ptarmigan Ridge Trail.
Wildflowers along Ptarmigan Ridge Trail.

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An evening of spectacular lightning and a colorful sunset

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The weather situation was shaping up to produce a few late afternoon and early evening thunderstorms in northern Arizona—with a good chance some of these would be in the Sedona area. Shooting lighting there is always fun as there are many fantastic rock formations that can be part of the foreground.

With that in mind, we took a quick drive down to Sedona and set up at the Cultural Park on the west side of town. This location affords excellent views from the west through north and includes the Cockscomb rock formation. Thunderstorms were developing to our west and moving to the northeast so it was just a matter of being patient. The first storm slowly moved away but not before producing some bolts with the Cockscomb and Bear Mountain as a backdrop.

Lightning over the Dry Creek basin in Sedona, Arizona.
Lightning over the Dry Creek basin in Sedona, Arizona.

Additional thunderstorms began to develop.

Lightning and sunset colors over Sedona, Arizona.
Lightning and sunset colors over Sedona, Arizona.
Lightning and sunset colors over Sedona, Arizona.
Lightning and sunset colors over Sedona, Arizona.

As the sun dropped below the distant mountains the lightning show began in earnest with brilliant bolts juxtaposed with sunset colors. It was amazing. But it didn’t last long as the sunset colors quickly faded.

Edit: Fixed typo.