North Cascades Spring
monotype5x4 inches
John W. Stinson ©2011
The North Cascades in Washington state has been referred to as "the American Alps." If you ever get the chance a drive along the North Cascades Highway in the month of May soon after the Highway opens for the season will be a rewarding experience. The snow covered mountains with the granite peaks, the clean crisp air, the large stands of evergreens that are home to and a haven for deer, gray wolf, grizzly bears (yes grizzly), black bears, Canadian lynx, mountain lion, pika, mountain goats, elk, moose and wolverine. It may be the most scenic drive in North America.
Jack Kerouac worked as a Fire Lookout in the North Cascades in 1956 thanks to a suggestion and connections with famed zen/beat poet and writer Gary Snyder a resident of Washington state in his childhood. The experience was the catalyst for the books Desolation Angels and The Dharma Bums. On lookout for 63 days atop Desolation Peak, Kerouac's descriptions of the North Cascades are still relevent today.
"I went out in my alpine yard and there it was . . . hundreds of miles of pure snow-covered rocks and virgin lakes and high timber," he wrote in The Dharma Bums. "Below, instead of the world, I saw a sea of marshmallow clouds . . ."
The Desolation Peak Lookout that inspired Kerouac's imagination is still surrounded by wildlands, thanks to dedicated environmentalists. For more than a decade, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, including The Mountaineers, the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs, and the North Cascades Conservation Council, fought for protection of these lands.
The monotype shown here is based on several trips made to the North Cascades after the highway has opened in the spring. There are many more to come hopefully as time and inspiration allows.
