Cascade River Valley and Remembering Scott

I had a venture up the Cascade River in the North Cascades. The Cascade River is a tributary river to the Skagit River. The river was flowing hard through a bedrock section of the canyon from the parade of mild temperature storms that have passed through over the last week, but given the high altitude of much of the watershed it was not at flood levels. 

During my traverse I came across this boulder that had recently landed in a patch of sword fern and had a fresh chip on the surface of the rock.

Looking up the slope did not reveal much as to the source of the rock.

However, this area of the Cascade River is in a deep valley with steep valley walls rising 4,000 feet from the the river. My guess is the rock derived from a band of steep exposed boulder rich glacial sediments about 600 feet up the slope.

All in all I got very wet ploughing through ferns and brush in a forest of western hemlock, western red cedar and Douglas fir.

Heading out I was struck by the splash of yellow gold of a cottonwood amongst the evergreens.

The splash of color reminded me of a past fall trip up the Cascade River valley after a good summer of field work in and above the Cascade River valley.  I vividly remember the fall colors of that trip and always associate that trip with sadness and loss but also some joy. The brightness of those remembered colors as well as the bright cottonwood tree I saw on this day remind me of the brightness of Scott. I always associate him with the Cascade River valley in the fall even though he never saw it.