After hours of bushwhacking through dense Canadian alder trees, Langdon Ernest-Beck was catatonic. That was before he lost his helmet in the scrub. Ernest-Beck, 23, and his climbing partner Ben Spiers, also 23, had ridden their bicycles 1450 miles across 9 days north from Seattle, WA, to Tatla Lake, where the road ended. Then they聽started walking toward their destination: 13,186-foot Mount Waddington in British Columbia.

The duo had spent the prior five days hiking through harsh shrubbery toward Mount Waddington and still had not yet seen a view of the peak. 鈥淎s far as the hellish bushwhack, we were not prepared,鈥� Ernest-Beck said. 鈥淚t was definitely the most brutal thing I鈥檝e ever experienced.鈥�

Mount Waddington is one of the most imposing and difficult-to-reach big peaks in North America. It’s not only the tallest mountain in the Coast Range, it鈥檚 also the highest peak that stands entirely within the boundaries of British Columbia. Waddington is so far off the beaten path that it didn鈥檛 even exist on a map until 1925 when it was first spotted (by a non-indigenous person) in the distance by聽a local couple named Don and Phyliss Munday. They called it 鈥淢ystery Mountain.鈥� The few people who do choose to climb Waddington each year are often flown in by helicopter.

Riding a bike to the peak and then scaling it felt like a suitable challenge for Ernest-Beck. In 2023, he navigated the Cascade Range from the seat of his bicycle聽along with his friend and mentor Jeff Hashimoto. The two rode across hundreds of miles of trails, highways and forest roads to reach and then ascend Washington State鈥檚 100 tallest peaks. Then, they climbed them all. After completing such a massive adventure, the question inevitably arises: what鈥檚 next?

Mount Waddington felt like the perfect challenge. 鈥淢y first-ever introduction into bigger mountains and mountaineering was in a course I did while I was in high school in the Waddington Range,鈥� Ernest-Beck said. 鈥淚 always had it in the back of my head that I wanted to go back there.鈥�

Motivated by his concern for the climate, Ernest-Beck has been looking for ways to lower his carbon footprint while pursuing big climbing objectives.鈥淚 think climbing in general can be seen as a selfish pursuit, so being able to do it in a way that鈥檚 environmentally responsible is nice,鈥� he said.

The bike trip alone was a major adventure. When the two charted the journey prior to the trip, they estimated they would need to聽pedal 1,450 total miles from their homes in Central Washington to Waddington and back. The return trip would take them across Vancouver Island.

The two began planning their expedition in May. Then, they departed their homes in Ellensburg, Washington on June 25 and began riding toward the peak. But they hit their first big snag just three days later in Bellingham, Washington before crossing the U.S. border with Canada. Ernest-Beck had mailed all his climbing gear to a remote post office in B.C. to save聽weight on his bicycle. But he received a tracking notification that his equipment was stuck in customs thousands of miles away near Ontario.

鈥淚t was like the second day of the trip,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 called my mom and told her to pick out everything that was left in my closet. She drove up to Bellingham and handed me the clothing. Then I borrowed some ice tools and crampons from some friends.鈥� Ernest-Beck made it to Canada with enough gear鈥攈e just had to carry it all the way there.

Once across the border, the pair braved the Trans-Canada highway, pedaling north until they reached Tatla Lake where they spent the 4th of July. 鈥淚t took us ten days to bike up there,鈥� Ernest-Beck said. 鈥淎nd even when we got to the ranch where we left our bikes, we were kind of in the middle of nowhere鈥攂ut we felt even more remote than we were because it had taken us so long to arrive.鈥�

The route from Tatla Lake to the base of Mount Waddington traversed 55 miles, but there was no established trail. For nearly a week, Ernest-Beck and Speirs hacked and scratched their way through an immense jungle of Canadian wilderness while lugging around 100 pounds of food and equipment.聽On the聽fifth day of bushwhacking, Ernest-Beck lost his helmet. The setback聽nearly broke them.

鈥淲e had started that day in the alpine and dropped into a valley called Pocket Valley, which is kind of the path to the base of the Scimitar Glacier,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檇 gotten back into this really thick slide alder and vine maple and at some point during that bushwhack, my helmet was ripped off my pack without me noticing.鈥�

Ernest-Beck tried to retrace his steps to find the helmet, but ended up walking in circles. It seemed like the loss was a big enough disaster for them to turn back. 鈥淭hat was the worst night of the trip,鈥� Ernest-Beck said.

Unsure of what to do, Ernest-Beck messaged his former climbing partner Jeff Hashimoto on his satellite phone and asked for advice. Hashimoto, 52, told the pair to get some sleep and take their journey one step at a time. If it felt unsafe to keep going without a helmet, he said, then they could always just turn around. 鈥淭hat was the best thing someone could鈥檝e said,鈥� Ernest-Beck said.

They slept 12 hours that night, and the next morning the duo felt mentally and physically recharged. They decided to push ahead. After another few hours of climbing they were able to see above the treeline. 鈥淭he first time we got into the alpine and had a view, it didn鈥檛 take long for us to get super stoked again,鈥� Ernest-Beck said. After so many days and miles of bushwhacking through tangled wilderness, the pair were beyond relieved to begin their trek over Granite Pass, across the span of several glaciers, and into the Waddington Range itself.

After the days of hiking through dense foliage to reach the 9,900-foot Waddington-Combatant col, the climb to the summit felt straightforward by comparison.聽鈥淚t took just under 30 hours,鈥� Ernest-Beck said. 鈥淲e got so lucky with the conditions.鈥� Waddington is notorious for its fickle weather鈥攖he peak is regularly hit by storms off the Pacific Ocean that freeze the summit in rime ice. But when the duo reached the top, the ice was mostly melted, and the聽pair were able to save time climbing the peak with a running belay, not stopping to pitch out sections.

The crux of the ascent occurred when the two had to chart聽a route across an intimidating bergschrund, a crevasse between the glacier and the base of the rock face, to get to the base of their intended route to the summit: the Angel Couloir. 鈥淲e spent four hours in the middle of the night walking up and down it, trying to cross, getting into it and starting a pitch to the other side,鈥� Ernest-Beck said.

After an hour of searching, they found a small cave in the ice. Speirs led a pitch into an ice chimney, shoving his body through an opening of solid water-ice to one side, and softer snow ice on the other. Eventually, they got through. 鈥淏en was like, 鈥極h, I see the stars!鈥�…After that, everything else was pretty smooth.鈥�

Ernest-Beck has been to the top of all the tallest peaks in Washington State. He knows a good view. Even he thought the scenery atop Waddington was聽special. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e close to the ocean,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 see water, but you can see where the fjords coming in are. Huge glaciers as far as you can see. It鈥檚 probably the best summit view I鈥檝e had. Zero sign of people.鈥�

Well, maybe not zero. Several weeks after their ascent, the two learned that they weren’t alone on Mount Waddington that day. 鈥淎 party actually gained the summit two or three hours after us,鈥� Ernest-Beck said with a laugh. 鈥淭hey had gotten flown into a glacier on the south side of the mountain. One of the guys reached out to me afterwards and was like, 鈥榊eah, we could hear you on the summit.鈥� I guess as we were hooting and hollering when we made it. We had no idea anyone else was there. I guess we weren鈥檛 that remote after all!鈥�

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It鈥檚 been nearly 30 years since the last time anyone spotted a grizzly bear in Washington State’s North Cascades National Park. Though grizzlies roamed the region’s聽forests for thousands of years, they were hunted to the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states throughout the 19th and 20th centuries by mostly white, European settlers.

But grizzlies are about to make a comeback.

In April, the National Park Service聽alongside聽the U.S. Fish and Wildlife revealed a dramatic new plan to reintroduce grizzly bears into the North Cascades National Park. 鈥淯nder the decision, grizzly bears in the North Cascades will be designated as a nonessential experimental population under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act,鈥� the .

The鈥渘onessential鈥� designation means the reintroduced bears aren鈥檛 necessarily integral to the survival of the grizzly species across the United States,聽but could promote the species鈥� growth.

North Cascades is one of the most remote and wild national parks in America. It鈥檚 an area roughly the size of New Jersey, and is home to some of the most scenic hiking trails in the country鈥攊ncluding some jaw-dropping sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. I live near the area and spend most of my summers hiking in my favorite destinations: Diablo Lake, Cascade Pass and Cutthroat Peak. Black bears are common to these areas, and I鈥檝e run into them before on the trails without incident. I’ve never seen a Grizzly, however, and their reintroduction made me worried.

Grizzly bears are dangerous predators. They can weigh up to 1,000 pounds and are one of the largest land carnivores on the planet.聽Last year, a woman named Amie Adamson was while hiking in West Yellowstone. A year before that, Craig Cloutare was reportedly mauled to death in the Six Mile Creek area of the Absaroka Mountains in Montana. A year before that Leah Davis Loken was attacked and killed near her campsite in Powell County, Montana.

I spoke with Andrew LaValle, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife who allayed some of my fears about grizzlies coming to Washington State.聽Federal authorities have very strict criteria about where the bears will be released, and how, he said. Areas of the park that typically attract crowds鈥攖he visitors center near Newhalem or the shores of Ross Lake鈥攚ill be excluded.

鈥淲e have very specific criteria where bears are going to be released,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat includes the Stephen Mather, Pasayten, and Glacier Peak wilderness areas. It has to have a suitable area for helicopter landing. We鈥檒l be looking for areas with grizzly bear foods in the vicinity, and also where they鈥檙e unlikely to encounter people for quite a while.鈥�

As the reintroduction process proceeds during the next two decades, the likelihood of running into a grizzly bear in the North Cascades will be extremely slim LaValle said. Enormous swaths of the 789-square-mile park are without any trails or roads.聽Just don’t go out of your way in the wilderness looking for grizzlies, and you won’t be likely to find any. As a tribal elder of the Upper Skagit people Scott Schuyler has spent years working with federal authorities and other groups to bring bears back to this region.

鈥淭here are bears in other parts of the country and there are sometimes where adverse interactions can occur,鈥� Schuyler said. 鈥淥ur goal through this process is to ensure the public is aware of how to behave and how to function in bear country.鈥�

Speaking to LaValle and Schuyler eased my fears of being attacked by a grizzly.

The federal government pinpointed North Cascades for reintroduction in 1997, the year after the last聽 grizzly was spotted in the park. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a significant undertaking,鈥� LaValle said. 鈥淭here were a lot of studies that had to take place. Habitat modeling. There were also a lot of concerns amongst parties, politically and otherwise about what this could mean. So, it took a long time to get here, but the science is sound.鈥�

Grizzly bears remain a vital but missing piece of the ecosystem throughout the American West. It鈥檚 a cruel irony that the state flag of California is adorned with an animal that hasn鈥檛 been spotted wandering its hills and valleys since a time before the Great Depression. Their absence is felt, even if it goes unseen.

The hope among proponents for grizzly bear restoration is that their presence will help restore the natural ecosystem of the North Cascades and bring balance to the regional flora and fauna. Bears disperse seeds, turn up soil, and keep other animal populations in check. The real-world benefits to the landscape are innumerable, especially at a time of extreme climate disruption.

For the indigenous tribes who鈥檝e resided in this area, there鈥檚 a special cultural resonance to the project as well. 鈥淕rizzly bears are part of history, part of our lore,鈥� Schuyler said. 鈥淥ur bears are a spirit power. We have other animal transformers of course, but they鈥檙e no less important.鈥�

Schuyler told me that the memory of the grizzly bear鈥檚 presence is written in the landscape of the North Cascades. 鈥淚n our language, there鈥檚 a river up in the Skagit tributary called the Stetattle. Stetattle is our word for grizzly bear,” he said. “There鈥檚 this affiliation that dates back thousands and thousands of years. 10,000 years prior to contact.鈥�

The timeline for reintroduction is tentative and the process itself is quite complex. Government officials are now focused on choosing the specific bears that can thrive in this vast outdoor wilderness teeming with other protected wildlife, like the steelhead and salmon that spawn in the Skagit River and its tributaries. They plan on drawing from a pool of animals whose current dietary habits can sustain them in North Cascades for years to come.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not just gonna pick up bears from the bear store,鈥� LaValle said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be looking for younger bears that have been recently emancipated from Mom. Bears two to five years old without a history of conflict. And we鈥檇 be looking to weigh the population toward females. We have like, temporal and then demographic criteria. All that鈥檚 to say, it鈥檒l take a while to find the right 产别补谤蝉.鈥�

How do you deliver a bear into remote locations? The current plan involves flying sedated bears in via helicopter鈥攂etween three and seven individuals each year for a decade. The goal is to eventually reach 25 bears total in North Cascades National Park as an initial population. Within a 100 years, that number could reach as much as 200 bears if current habitat modeling holds.

The presence of 200 grizzly bears will change the character of North Cascades National Park in a multitude of ways. It will also alter the habits of the hikers and campers who traverse the park as the bears become more at home in this expansive habitat. While the experts I spoke to quelled my fears, they also told me that grizzly reintroduction does raise the risk for humans. Visitors need to be aware of the hazards and plan accordingly.

鈥淲e will have a learning curve here in Washington,鈥� LaValle said. 鈥淲e have lived without grizzly bears in the landscape for a number of years now. We will have to relearn how to recreate in bear country. The good news is, we can take lessons from other ecosystems. We know that outdoor recreation is alive and well in Montana.鈥�

Fatal attacks happen, but they are extremely rare and can be prevented if hikers take the right precautions. 鈥淲e will still be able to enjoy our outdoor spaces to the fullest here in Washington,鈥� LaValle said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l have to be aware of our surroundings. Be careful not to approach wildlife. Travel in groups when possible. Make sure we鈥檙e bear aware, announcing our presence and carrying bear spray.鈥�

For Schuyler, this meaningful moment for both him and his tribe has been a very long time coming. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a moral and ethical obligation by our tribe, based on our history, that we鈥檙e going to defend these creatures. Whether it鈥檚 a bear, whether it鈥檚 a ground squirrel or a bird. That鈥檚 just our identity,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e gonna be their voice. Nobody was our voice. We鈥檙e gonna make sure that we still protect what we can.鈥�

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