Wenatchee National Forest Pictures, Photos, Photography

Wenatchee National Forest is a US National Forest extending about 138 miles (220 km) along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range. It includes the southern portion of the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness, and the eastern portions of Glacier Peak, Henry M. Jackson, Alpine Lakes, Norse Peak, William O. Douglas and Goat Rocks Wildernesses. The Wenatchee is a forest of transition. Its shrub-steppe habitat bridges the lush ecosystem of Puget Sound with the rugged high desert of eastern Washington state. Sagebrush at lower elevations surrenders to pine-covered slopes and eventually to the sparse vegetation atop the Cascade's volcanic summits. Icicle Creek Canyon, at over 8,000 ft (2,400 m) from floor to rim, is easily one of the deepest canyons in the Pacific Northwest.

The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a large wilderness area spanning the Cascade Range of Washington. The wilderness is approximately bounded by Interstate 90 and Snoqualmie Pass to the south and U.S. Route 2 and Stevens Pass to the north. The Alpine Lakes is the largest wilderness area near the population centers of Puget Sound. One of the most popular destinations is the Enchantments near Leavenworth. This area is composed of spectacular mountains including Prusik Peak and Dragontail Peak. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is jointly administered by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and the Wenatchee National Forest.

Glacier Peak is the most remote of the five major volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains in Washington. At 10,541 ft (3,194 m), Glacier Peak is the dominant geologic feature of the area. No roads approach the mountain, and one must hike many miles through extremely rough terrain to reach its base. It is located in the Glacier Peak Wilderness north of Stevens Pass, only 70 miles (112 km) northeast of Seattle, which is closer to the city than any other of the volcanoes except Mount Rainier. About 13,000 years ago, Glacier Peak generated a sequence of nine ash eruptions within a period of less than a few hundred years. The largest ejected more than five times as much ash as the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens and was one of the largest in the Cascade Range since the end of the last ice age.

Photography in the Enchantments, Glacier Peak, and Wenatchee National Forests typically requires backpacking on multi-day trips. Photographers challenge themselves on the 22 mile (35 km) round trip to photograph the golden larch trees in the fall beneath Prusik Peak. Hiking into Glacier Peak requires at least a 40 mile (64 km) round trip to some of the more photogenic locations. The Wenatchee National Forest has beautiful fall foliage displays during the month of October.