Joey in Danger on Mount Baker

There was one Summer, back in the mid 1990s when Joey and his favorite uncle seemed to go somewhere almost every weekend. Up in the mountains, across the mountains, sometimes on bikes, sometimes on hikes, sometimes on long drives. Picking apples in Yakima, Octoberfesting in Leavenworth, exploring an aircraft carrier, fighting an ice storm to reach the top of Sauk Mountain and on one August day, hiking up Mount Baker. There really was not too much danger on this adventure. Except, maybe for the extreme drop-off on the trail along the moraine scoured out by the main glacier sliding off Mount Baker. That and walking out on the glacier, in the heat of summer, is a bit dicey, with ice caverns and crevasses. But, as always happens, no matter how dangerous, Joey survived this uncle exposure to danger.

Hear we see Joey non-verbally expressing the thought,  'you really expect me to climb up this thing?'

On the way up Mount Baker you cross this suspension bridge to ford a creek caused by snowmelt from Mount Baker's glaciers. By late afternoon after a warm day the creek is raging and this bridge is very welcome. A couple year's later on another climb up Mount Baker, nephew Jeremy refused for quite some time to cross this bridge. He has since conquered his acrophobia.

Joey seems to be asking can't you go any faster you old geezer to his hyperventilating uncle. That's what it seems he may be saying. But it is more likely he was just turning around so his face would show up in the photo.

Here it appears the aged uncle has climbed above the much younger Joey. The foothills of the Cascades are in the distance, to the west, as we look at this alpine scene right at the timberline.

Triumphant, waiting for his uncle, sitting atop a rock, on the edge of a huge drop off, at the very base of the summit of Mount Baker.

Standing within a short distance of the summit of Mount Baker, the volcanic crater which spews sulfuric steam visible at times from the Skagit Valley below, is just to the left of Joey and not spewing visible steam this day due to the warm temperatures, but still smelling of sulfur.  This would be as far as we could safely go, without putting a Nephew in Danger. Joey surveys the long distance he has hiked and wonders when will he ever be back here again? How about Summer of 2002? There may be a certain uncle in the area and he may be looking for some Nephews to put in Danger!