Above the Cascades

This isn’t an apology but I have to say that I’m not a big believer in store-bought experiences. If you could buy every great experience then all rich people would be a lot more interesting than the rest of us. I haven’t found this to be the case at all. Most of the best things in this life take more time than money; learning to play an instrument or a foreign language come to mind. With that said let me just say that what I did yesterday was really fucking cool.

I spend a lot of time schlepping around in the Cascade Mountains which lie east of my home in Seattle. Just this past weekend I drove up to North Cascades National Park for a little hiking and sight-seeing. On the way home I drove along the east side of the mountains along the beautiful Yakima River. I have hiked, climbed, and mountain biked through these wondrous peaks at every opportunity. A guy I know is a pilot who is always looking to log flight time so I enlisted him to take me over the mountains for a bird’s eye view of this big playground.

I met him at Paine Field, a twenty minute drive north from my apartment in downtown Seattle. Jaime checked out a Cessna 172 Skyhawk for my reconnaissance flight. The morning haze was almost burned off when we took off and headed east for the mountains. We gained altitude over the God-awful suburban sprawl that dominates the outskirts of most American cities. We kept Mount Baker to our left, Rainier to our right which left Mount Stewart almost directly in front of us.

From Seattle to the Canadian border there are only three roads that cross the Cascades from east to west: Snoqualmie Pass via I-90, Stevens Pass via highway 2, and highway 20 which winds through North Cascades National Park. With so few roads there is a vast expanse of wilderness in this area and I wanted to see it from the air.

We had breathless views of alpine lakes, dense forests, and snow-capped peaks. I could navigate from the air as I know this area rather well, both its natural features and man-made landmarks. One of the most spectacular sites from the air would have to be Lake Serene below Mount Index. I have hiked there before and it looked amazing in the context of the whole mountain around it.

Once again I can say that the best things in life are either free or aren’t that expensive. I’m lucky enough to know someone who loves to fly and is thrilled to have a passenger split the flight time.