Without much further ado, photos from the hike Nora and I took last week in the North Cascades:

Nora liked these little pinecones (cf. big pine cones in this post).

On the second day of the hike, we quickly emerged from the forest. Nora saw some bears from this vantage point, but they were too distant to get a decent picture.

As we climbed higher out of the valley, more of the snow-capped peaks surrounding us rose into view.

Wildflowers were abundant, especially around streams.

Nora and I reached the physical high point of our trip that same day, at about 6,500 feet. While Glacier peak was covered in clouds, we could see some of the neighboring glaciated mountains.

While we weren’t able to get a picture of the bears we saw on this trip, here’s a nice picture of a marmot.

We spent our final night camped next to beautiful Blue Lake (having visited White Pass and Red Pass the day before).

The final day was a 12-mile descent above stunning fogged-in valleys.

The mountains almost miraculously protruded from an ocean of fog.

Sometimes it felt as if we were hiking along the edge of the world. Soon, however, we’d be forced to return to it.