Old Sauk River Trail   The Old Sauk River Trail offers the spring hiker an easy opportunity to explore the rich textures of a vibrant rainforest, on par with the legendary lushness of the Olympic Peninsula. Along the way, you’ll pass through remnants of towering old-growth forest, curtains of hanging lichen, an understory carpeted with emerald green moss, luxurious fern gardens, and enough mushrooms and fungi to tantalize even the most discriminating mycologist. The river is not always in view, but the rhapsodic music of flowing water can be heard throughout your walk. Here and there, op ..read more

Washington State Route 20 (known as the North Cascades Highway from Marblemount to Winthrop) is the state’s longest and most scenic highway. If you’ve traveled in the North Cascades, you’re already familiar with it. SR20 stretches from Whidbey Island in the west all the way to the city of Newport on the Idaho border. Along the way, it winds along the Skagit River, through the North Cascades National Park (NCNP), down into the picturesque Methow Valley, east through the Okanagan, across the Columbia River at Barney’s Junction, through the rugged Colville National Forest, and down along the Pend ..read more

These four poems originate from 20 years of canoe tripping on the Skagit River from Ross Lake to the Salish Sea. The Skagit is a river, a watershed, a cultural identity, a place of spirits, and a home. As a guest on native land, I acknowledge the people whose longhouses and seasonal camps bordered the river from the mountains to the sea since time immemorial. Their descendants include the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, and the Nlaka’pamux Nation. Valley of the Spirits   Skagit River – a dark ribbon of moving light.   Spring rain brings flowers ..read more

Harlan Kredit was raised in Lynden, the epicenter of conservatism in the rural northwest corner of Washington State. Lawns were expected to be manicured, but lawn mowing on Sunday was forbidden. With 29 churches, many of which are Christian Reformed, Lynden is said to have one of the country’s highest per capita ratio of churches—one church per about every .09 square miles. In 1981, Lynden passed an ordinance outlawing dancing in establishments where alcohol was served. Calling dancing “evil,” a city council member observed: “I’d like to dance, but I see the harms and evils that come from it ..read more

The Skagit River sustains humans in many ways, from providing drinking water to irrigating crops and nurturing fisheries. Of course, the basin is also home to a profound richness of wildlife, including bears, salmon, bald eagles, otters, trout, voles, elk, swans, and the Pacific giant salamander. The river is a popular destination for recreation—camping, kayaking, rafting, fly-fishing, skinny-dipping—as well as spiritual sustenance. Paying a visit to the Skagit in any season can be a ritual, a wellspring of peace, a space for reflection and renewal. Every river is a unique expression, an inter ..read more

Jack Wolfskin Eagle Peak 2L Shell Guest Review by Nikki Here in the Pacific Northwest, could any piece of gear be more important than a trusty raincoat? My new Jack Wolfskin Eagle Peak 2L Jacket has kept me dry on foggy mornings and in wintery downpours and protected me from icy winds. It’s lightweight and breathable, even when I’m pedaling around town or hiking hard in drippy forests. It’s easy to adjust the hood for more protection or better visibility, and I didn’t anticipate how much I’d love the adjustable elastic-free cuffs. The longer length in the back ensures water can’t sneak in ..read more

I cross the tidal mud flat that leads to Pack Creek in late afternoon, mid-way through a week-long excursion in the Tongass National Forest of Southeast Alaska. Our small group is alone, greatly outnumbered by the bears. Brown (grizzly) bears line the undulating watercourse of the creek on Admiralty Island, seven or eight of these incredible creatures fishing for salmon near where the mouth of the stream flows through myriad channels into Seymour Canal. The remote island, some 90 miles long and 35 miles wide, is the seventh-largest island in the United States. While less than 700 people inhabi ..read more

“I travel across the skin of the earth, much like a blade of grass, held gently, travels across my skin. I imagine my hands and my feet moving over the ground in such a way that the earth finds sensuous. I feel her playful pinch in the sharp plants that I pass. I feel her desire in the heat of the rock upon which I lie. I feel her longing in the shadows that she stretches across her canyons.” So reads a journal excerpt from my time spent wandering the canyons of Cochise in Southern Arizona. I have been moving across landscapes my entire life. What began as a selfish pursuit of adrenaline-fuele ..read more

In the three years I spent photographing and writing my new book, Soul of the Skagit, I listened to countless people affectionately refer to the river as the “Magic Skagit.” Sure, it has a ring to it. But I was relatively new to the Pacific Northwest, and besides the obvious beauty of the Skagit River and the North Cascades, I was curious about what made it so “magical.” Was it the towering mountains? Or the abundant wildlife? Or maybe the brilliant-colored lakes?  Scientists estimate that there are more ice worms on some of the larger glaciers in the Skagit than humans on earth. It only ..read more

The old idiom “can’t see the forest for the trees” describes being too wrapped up in details to see the big picture. But in close-up photography, the details are what matter—a recognition that the blanket of frozen, dead leaves on the ground or the tiny mushroom sprouting from a rotting log is the “forest,” just as much as the towering trees above. During my career as a wildlife biologist, I spent many years scanning grand landscapes, searching for specific animals. Now, I find myself observing nature in a different way. I am drawn to its abstract beauty, moved by the changing symmetries ..read more