Teebone Ridge to Little Devil Peak
A scenic loop to see soak in the fall colors and perhaps the impetus/rebirth of this very website!
Monogram Lake
A glimpse of the Southern Pickets
I don’t think this glacier has a name
Neither this one. Hello Baker!
A look into the Isolation Traverse, hopefully I can check out this area soon
Peaks of the Cascade River Road that we had a hard time identifying due to the unfamiliar vantage point
Love seeing when a glacier meets the water
Snowking and friends - another underrated area I’ll have to check out!
Colors!!
It’s not often you see Eldorado from this angle and the whole drainage below, what a unit
Blueberries!? I’ve been calling them huckleberries this whole time lol.
Notes
- This was probably ~15 miles and ~7400 feet of vertical gain in a little under 9 hours.
Unsolicited Thoughts on This Website, Posting, and Social Media
Had a great conversation today about the eternal debate on the pros/cons of social media as it pertains to outdoor recreation. To keep it short, and while a little-gatekeepy, I was thinking how an outing like this is worth keeping closer to the chest, even if this area is not necessarily unpopular - there is a maintained trail to Monogram Lake after all.
There was something nice about going into this, having done no research, to explore unremarkable peaks in an unnoteworthy zone, on paper at least. The spirit of exploration is not something I’m necessarily looking for in the outdoors (which is another point of contention), but it was nice to soak in this uncommon feeling that we unintentionally squash as a side effect of consuming what’s overshared, and even just being responsible and doing due diligence to know what you’re getting into.
This is certainly not an original thought - it probably crosses the mind of anyone who uses Strava or Instagram. But I never used to be this kind of person, the constant over-sharer. I think the feeling of unease I get from social media is probably the paradigm of push notifications. Not currently loving the idea of announcing to the the world what I’m doing. I really want to feel like I’m doing this for me and not some sense of external validation.
But at the same time, I do find value in sharing some of these outings, not as a “look how cool my life is!”, but because there is something to gain from relating to common experiences or adding intrigue to something previously unknown. I’ve most definitely found value in reading others’ blogs, watching YouTube videos with little to no views, and consuming lower-key media in general.
So I don’t know, maybe it’s the slower style of delivery that is resonating with me lately. Right now this blog seems to be a happy medium of doing my own thing, while having a catalogue that people can look at, but also omitting a ton of detail and not publicizing too much, but this will be a topic I’ll continue thinking a lot about.