September is National Wilderness Month, so proclaimed by President Obama. I’ve had the good fortune to hike and backpack in several wilderness areas recently, and firmly believe that our federally designated Wilderness areas rank right up there with our National Parks as some of the best things about the U.S.A.
There are a number of new and proposed wilderness areas in the Pacific Northwest, places that are now protected, or worthy of protection, for future generations. Nationally, The Wilderness Society has been working for many years to preserve these special areas, and locally we have such organizations as Oregon Wild, the Oregon Natural Desert Association and the Washington Wilderness Coalition.
The photo above is from a recent backpacking trip to the Mount Adams Wilderness in the southern Cascade Mountains of Washington state. Mount Adams isn’t as well known as its neighbors Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens, but forests and meadows on the flanks of Mount Adams are wonderful for hiking, wildlife viewing and photography. On this trip, I headed up Killen Creek Trail in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and found this meadow of lovely lupine just below the junction with the Pacific Crest Trail.
Click on the link for more of my photos of wilderness areas in Washington and Oregon.
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Beautiful mountainscape Greg. The light falls your foreground flowers perfectly!
The wilderness areas are just as beautiful as our National Parks if not more beautiful. They are a lot less traveled and that is priceless.