The Earth Story

North Cascades National Park This is some of the spectacular scenery found on the northern edge of Washington State in North Cascades National Park. The rocks in this area are a faulted-up jumble of everything that makes up the Rocky Mountains. There are sandstones and limestones, products of the times when the western U.S. was inundated with water, rocks from volcanic arcs that slammed into the U.S. coast, and even more recent lavas from the modern day cascades. Carved by glaciers during the recent ice ages into sharp peaks, this remote area makes for foreboding but lovely photos like this one. -JBB Image credit: NPS https://www.flickr.com/photos/northcascadesnationalpark/3567861756/in/set-72157621956489126 More: http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/noca/nocageol1.html

garret_weintrob

Moonrise over the mountains 🌖

mac_dzl• North Cascades National Park

Mount Baker Wilderness

Snowy weather, North Cascades National Park

Into The Wild, North Cascades National Park

Mudflow in Stehekin, Washington

On the shores of Lake Chelan in a remote area of the state of Washington sits the city of Stehekin, a small town of 150 which is effectively only accessible by boat or floatplane. The town sits in an area mostly managed by the federal government, within the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area and just south of North Cascades National Park. Since the area is managed by the park service, we can share some of their impressive photos taken following a mudslide in this area. This photo shows what used to be a road.

A combination of large wildfires and large rainfalls triggered this particular slide. The mud poured through the town, carrying boulders and trees with it, eventually dumping out into Lake Chelan which sits at the bottom of the valley. Although several businesses were damaged, no one was injured in this slide.

-JBB

Image credit: National Park Service http://www.flickr.com/photos/northcascadesnationalpark/9695877144/in/set-72157635421195577

Press report: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021785276_stehekinmudslidexml.html