Personal: Looyenga Family Goes to North Cascades National Park
One of my goals coming into this summer wasn’t just to capture incredible wedding images or family photos (although that certainly was a goal) it was also to spend more time outside, doing things that I love, with the people that I love. That of course, means being with my family. So when we found a small gap of time in July, we decided to head out and camp for two nights in the North Cascades National Park, which was a park none of us had been to. The trip was much shorter than I had hoped, but absolutely beautiful in so many ways. Getting there early enough on the first day to setup camp, find firewood, and then head to an absolutely incredible overlook for sunset (that also required no hiking - a bummer, but some people would love to hear that). This first group of photos will show that day off. No, because this is a personal blog, I get to show off as much - or as little - as I want, and in this case, I think I maybe am sharing too many “oh my gosh those mountains!” photos, but I can’t help myself. I hope you can join me on my enthusiasm! That said, highlights were absolutely being with my family, seeing the incredible Lake Diablo and it’s colors, and of course, seeing the mountains (and in early/mid July, there was still a good amount of snow, which is always awesome).
The next day i’m going to split up into two parts. The first part of the day we had a little bit of time to explore smaller hikes and locations before we went to do our “big” hike. So we went and checked out an incredible dam, put our heads in the streams, and checked out a couple locations the boys really wanted to see (based purely off the name of the trail). These were awesome little moments, and moments that ultimately had gratification from the beginning, unlike some hikes where you’re in the trees for most of the time until you get to the top.
The second part of the day we drove about an hour to a trail head to do our “big hike” which was basically the actual hike we were planning to do that day. I wanted to be up there at sunset to have the best possible light, and share those moments with our boys and my wife. It did not disappoint, it was incredible, and I hope you spend enough time looking at - and zooming in - on some of the landscape photos that won't get any justice here (because of the way it’s published) and ultimately need to take up a 5 foot section of wall space. Either way, i’m excited to share these photos with you. The only part that really was tough was my family didn’t particularly love walking down in the dark - but we all came out better because of it.
This trip was a highlight for me. While I hope one day to take a bride and groom up here for an elopement or wedding - or even an engagement shoot - going up with my family will always be something I look back on with extreme fondness. I love my family, my boys, and I absolutely love being out in God’s creation with them, and sharing in this incredible world we’ve been blessed to be a part of. Hopefully you loved these photos as much as I loved taking them, and being there.