Slate Peak

With the need to abandon our backcountry trek, we went front country and drove throughout the North Cascades. We successfully continued our wilderness experience, even though we did travel by car. This caused us to ask each other the question "what really is wilderness?" Is it a perception or an actual line drawn in the dirt?

Enter Slate Peak.

We walked up to the top of Slate Peak as a group in order to watch the sunset that evening. It was grand. We were the only people there, so we had the entire peak & lookout to ourselves. On the way up, we encountered the wilderness boundary line, and this fancy sign posted by the forest service.

(Sign text - You are standing on the boundary of a carefully protected wildland nearly 90 miles wild called the Pasayten Wilderness. Here things happen at nature's pace and by nature's rules. Humans only visit, traveling by foot or horseback and living on what can be carried along. Among these silent peaks and winding valleys is the chance to leave technology behind and experience what it might have been like in the beginning)

It was a beautiful setting, where you could look out on the landscape and see how time has shaped this area. The valleys were carved by glaciers into the perfect "U" and were now filled with trees. The peaks jutted up from the valley floor at an alarming rate, and still held snow and ice. We were able to view the sunset from the top of the peak and watch as a sliver of the moon lit the mountains below. It was beautiful.

Here's the catch. We drove there. We drove up to a height of nearly 6800 feet then hiked the remaining 200 feet to the top. I would argue that we were in Wilderness, even though we arrived via four wheels. When looking to the north, east and west, we were looking at designated wilderness areas, yet we stood on a paved mountain top, which once housed a look-out during the cold war.

It begs to ask the question, what is Wilderness? Is Wilderness a perception or a boundary? Is Wilderness a personal experience or a place requiring a permit for access?
Can we provide people access to "Wilderness" even though it does not hold "Wildness?" It's something to think about when we discuss access and get angry over designation and usage.

Is it more meaningful for someone to drive to an access point, view wilderness and have an experience that evokes a desire to preserve this landscape? Or must we outlaw access, and only allow the fit and young to enter the Wilderness creating their own experiences? What provokes conservation in the public?

It's just something to think about. I know this visit changed my perspective, and I urge you to drive to this same spot and view the landscape before you as well. Then, you can park your car, sign the trail log and set forth into the trees and ridge lines before you.