North Cascades Love Affair, Part 5

| January 25, 2016 |

I’ll admit it. I’ve completely romanticized North Cascades National Park. I’ve proclaimed it, essentially, as my mountain muse.

I can’t help it, though. The first time I bestowed my eyes upon Diablo Lake, I felt something inside me shift. It felt like a dream. I had to shake my head and ask myself: Do colors that blue really exist in natural features? What is Earth, after all? Is Mother Nature really this fruitful?

Yes, Kristen. Yes to all of it.

Here is my photographic homage to Diablo Lake and written romanticization of life…

I believe in love.

I believe in feeling love with people and in places & experiences.

I believe Mother Nature is bountiful in beauty and we must give her our love, encompassing all her fruits with kind words and actions.

I believe kindness goes a long way, and can be felt by every atom, every particle, that surrounds us.

I believe in ripples of energy that radiate from our hearts, are heard from our mouths, and are felt by our touch.

As I walked (ran) to Diablo Lake overlook for the first time, I felt all these things. I felt a hopelessly romantic feeling taking over every particle of my body. My atoms were vibrating the love and appreciation I believe is at the core of our beings.

There it was in all its turquoise glory.
And there I was, an observer.

Yet, I felt like I was more than an observer. I felt myself entwined with the lake and the dramatic mountains that surround it. I felt my energy radiating into my surroundings, while I also absorbed the immense power of Mother Nature in that moment. Though it wasn’t an organic experience, and I was simply gawking at the lake from a rail, I felt more connected.The ripples made the lake seem alive with a pulse, and I felt synchronous with it.

Even as the day turned to night, Diablo Lake remained alive and pulsating. The clouds swirled around the distant peaks. The water rippled, but slower now, as it was preparing to rest.I think the love I feel in these mountains and these places is the love I want to feel for a lifetime. The awe-striking, deeply-resonating kind of love. The kind that just makes you feel alive.