I recently spent two exhausting days experiencing the beauty and splendor of the North Cascade Mountains. It was my first climb and it was to the summit of Ruth Mountain.

Elevation: 7,100 feet.

The above photo is of the view we (my brother, David, my cousin, Phil, and I) had from our camp. After hiking four miles on a relatively easy forest trail, climbing up a dried-up waterfall trough and traversing a mile or so of snowfields, we found the flattest spot at the top of the snow bank to pitch the tents.

Oh, what a sight. The breathtaking vistas, combined with the satisfaction of much-needed rest, nearly bring an exhausted, relatively out-of-shape climber to tears. It's all worth it when you get to see the sunset and experience the calming silence at this elevation. Below is the view of Mount Shuksan (foreground) and Mount Baker at sunset from teh other side of our camp.


After a rejuvinating night's sleep, we awoke to this, looking northeast from just below the Mount Ruth Summit.



That morning, we summited (above photo) in 18 minutes from camp and then moved on to Icy Peak (below, from Ruth summit), which was another four hours of trekking. We didn't quite make it up the summit — too many vertical snow banks in our way and not the right gear to scale them — but it was still fun refilling our water bottles with pure snow-melt straight from underneath a small glacier.


This rivals my Inca Trail experience as the toughest thing I have done physically, but it was all worth it.



— Christopher