Wender·Vista
Cascade Pass with Mixup Peak
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileWashington
high in the North Cascades, above the Stehekin

Cascade Pass with Mixup Peak

— the meadow the dark spire watches.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A meadow saddle high in North Cascades National Park, where the trail switchbacks up from the end of Cascade River Road and tops out at a wide alpine bench. Mixup Peak stands south of the pass, a dark narrow tower the eye keeps returning to. The Skagit drains one way, the Stehekin the other. Mountain goats walk through. The wildflower stretch comes late, usually the last week of July, and a few weeks after it is done the larches turn. There is almost always wind here.

from the studio
Cascade Pass with Mixup Peak
— bring it home

Cascade Pass with Mixup Peak, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Cascade Pass with Mixup Peak

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Cascade Pass sits at 5,392 feet in North Cascades National Park, on the divide between the Skagit and Stehekin watersheds. The trail reaches it in 3.7 miles from a parking area at the end of the Cascade River Road, twenty-three miles east of Marblemount. Mixup Peak rises immediately south of the pass to 7,440 feet, a narrow dark horn that climbers reach from Cache Col. Indigenous Skagit people used the pass as a trade route across the range long before the Skagit Mining Company tried briefly for copper here in the 1890s. The pass is part of the Stephen Mather Wilderness.

— the air

The pass sits above 5,000 feet, where summer afternoons stack clouds over Magic Mountain and the wind comes up the basin most days. Storms blow through fast. Mountain goats walk the meadow openly, and pikas live in the talus on the Sahale Arm side. The Cascade Range pulls weather off the Pacific so quickly that the pass can be in sun while the Stehekin Valley below is still in cloud. Snow lingers in the south-facing gullies under Mixup well into July most years. By late October the basin closes for the season; the Cascade River Road past mile twenty goes unmaintained in winter.

— the season

The wildflower window opens late at Cascade Pass. Paintbrush, lupine, and glacier lilies turn the meadow saddle from roughly the last week of July through mid-August. Two or three weeks behind the bloom the subalpine larches on Sahale Arm begin to turn gold; the larch window is roughly the first two weeks of October in most years. The trail is generally snow-free from mid-July to early October. When the Cascade River Road closes for winter the only access to the pass is from the Stehekin side, which itself takes a boat ride from Chelan up Lake Chelan.

— where
United States · Skagit County, Washington
— within
North Cascades National Park
— elevation
1,643 m · 5,392 ft
— position
48.4737° N · 121.0747° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
2 km N
Sahale Arm
alpine ridge
2 km NE
Doubtful Lake
alpine lake
35 km N
Diablo Lake
reservoir
20 km W
Hidden Lake Lookout
fire lookout
20 km E
Stehekin
settlement
N
Cascade Pass with Mixup Peak
Sahale Arm
Doubtful Lake
Diablo Lake
Hidden Lake Lookout
Stehekin
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Cascade Pass with Mixup Peak — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Cascade Pass is a 5,392-foot pass in North Cascades National Park, on the divide between the Skagit River drainage and the Stehekin Valley. It is reached on a 3.7-mile trail from the end of the Cascade River Road, twenty-three miles east of Marblemount.

Mixup Peak rises to 7,440 feet, immediately south of Cascade Pass. It is a narrow dark horn climbed from Cache Col, and it appears in most photographs taken from the pass.

The trail to Cascade Pass is 3.7 miles each way from the trailhead at the end of the Cascade River Road, with about 1,800 feet of elevation gain on switchbacks through hemlock and fir before opening onto the meadow saddle.

The wildflower window opens late, usually the last week of July through mid-August, with paintbrush, lupine, and glacier lilies across the meadow saddle. Snowmelt timing shifts the bloom by a week or two each year.

The subalpine larches on Sahale Arm and the Stehekin side typically turn gold during the first two weeks of October. The Cascade River Road usually stays open through that window, weather permitting, before winter closure.

Yes. Mountain goats live in the meadows and talus around the pass and along Sahale Arm, and are often visible from the trail. The National Park Service asks hikers to keep a distance of at least 150 feet.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for North Cascades hikers and PCT walkers. Cascade Pass is one of the signature day hikes in the park, and the Mixup view is the photograph most of them carry home. A Medium or Large with a handwritten card from the studio carries the place well.

The deep greens of the meadow and the near-black silhouette of Mixup work with Mountain-modern interiors, cabin and lodge palettes, and Pacific Northwest minimalist rooms. It also reads well against warm wood paneling and against pale grey plaster walls.

Yes. Alpine-modern and Pacific Northwest cabin aesthetics have been leaning toward fewer, larger pieces with deep landscape color. A single Large tile of Cascade Pass above a hearth or a console sits comfortably in that register.

A single Large reads well above a standard sofa, a four-tile Mural fills a wider wall, and a nine-tile Mural anchors a long room. Above a console table a Medium or a single Large generally reads best.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. The Glossy finish is for show pieces and dry walls. Dura Satin and Matte are made for vertical installations including showers, kitchen backsplashes, and powder-room walls.

A microfibre cloth with water is enough for everyday cleaning. The color is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so it will not lift or fade with normal cleaning. Avoid abrasive pads on the Glossy finish.

Yes. Wender Studios is a single family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Cascade Pass piece was made in-house by Reid Wender, the curator, and the tile is hand-finished here. No outside licensing or reproduction.

— if this one stayed with you

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