I can see why many call the North Cascades of Washington State the “American Alps.” With their rocky peaks and lush forests of fir and hemlock below, every view is spectacular, as if these mountains were meticulously crafted by an artist who’s eye for beauty far exceeds what we could possibly imagine. So when Lauren and Ryan had suggested we explore a particular lake in the North Cascades for their adventure engagement session, needless to say, I was pretty excited! It was actually a place they had visited together before, which made it all the more special. Couple that with our near perfect timing with larch season (which lasts so briefly before wind and weather cause all of the needles to fall off), and we had the makings of an absolutely gorgeous setting and a seriously epic adventure shoot!

We took the long, windy two-lane roads into the North Cascades and met up for a relatively easy ascent up to the lake. The crazy thing is that it is only about 90 miles (as the crow flies) from Snoqualmie, but since you have to go way, way around, it ends up being about a 3.5 hour drive! And that’s assuming you don’t get stuck behind a long line of cars following a large tractor doing 20mph on one of the curvy 55mph two-lane highways meandering through the farmlands below (yep, this happened to me)! Long drive aside, for the amazing scenery we had, it was totally worth it! And they brought their kids along… I mean their beautiful dogs, one of which is still very much a puppy! And we had an amazing time exploring the lake and trying to see if we could wrangle the dogs together and often times just settling for a great laugh amidst the ensuing chaos! I have to say, their dogs are super photogenic and Lauren and Ryan looked pretty amazing too! 🙂 The larch trees were spectacular and as the sun began to sink towards the horizon, we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves!

Thank you both for the wonderful adventure engagement session! I had a seriously amazing time with both of you and your dogs! And congratulations on now (as I write this) already being married!!! Enjoy a peak at a few of the many highlights!

This was on the way up to the lake. You can see the bright yellow larches beginning a few hundred feet above! The lake area was just above 6000 feet, where the larches can be found. It is so amazing to see how everything has its own niche. One of the things I love so much about the mountains is that you can see these changes happen right in front of your eyes as you trace your gaze up the slope of a mountain and see how the trees and vegetation change with elevation. God’s creation is so amazing!