Part of learning to live in a new place is becoming oriented to the geography. It seems silly, but somehow our sense of North, South, East and West has been slightly altered by our new home. Part of our disorientation might come from the simple fact that we have never before lived so far north. Here in the winter, the location of the sun is never truly east or west, but always south. It isn’t really that much different from our home in South Dakota, but different enough that we tend to think of southwest, the direction of the sunset as west. The longer we live here the more we are gaining a sense of direction, but it takes time to get our internal compasses oriented.

There are some basics of our geography that might not be understood by those unfamiliar with this corner of the United States. For most of our lives, we have thought of Canada as being north of us. In Montana and North Dakota, the other high line states where we have lived, the way to Canada is north. If you look at a map of the longest international boundary in the world, however, you see that it takes quite a few twists and turns. In the Great Lakes Region, the border is a water border. Canada is north of Michigan, but it is also east of Michigan. New York has Canada to the north, but also to the west. Maine is nearly surrounded by Canada with borders on the east, north and west. And Alaska, of course, shares a long border with Canada that runs north and south, making Canada east in most of the state. Here in our little corner of the continental United States, Canada lies both to the north and to the west.

Mount Vernon is straight east of the capitol of British Columbia: the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island. On a clear day if you get in the right places, it seems like there are mountains in all directions. Even though we know that the Pacific Ocean lies to our west, the part of the water that is closest to us is the Strait of Juan de Fuca where the Salish Sea connects with the Pacific. The US-Canada border runs down the center of the Strait. There are snow-capped mountains on Vancouver Island that can easily be seen from the shore on a clear day. As one travels north, the land of British Columbia stretches a good deal west of the coast of Washington. Looking north we see snow-capped mountains. There are also places not far from our house where you can get a glimpse of the Olympic mountains to the southwest. And in the east are the Cascades, which rise dramatically and offer views of glacier-topped mountains year round.

Perhaps the most prominent feature of our region, aside from the ocean, is Mount Baker, known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan to the indigenous people of the region. The tribes of the Pacific Northwest are quite different from our experiences with plains Indians. Tribes and language groups cross the international boundary. Many of the tribes were left with no land at all in the early part of the 20th century and have only regained reservation land by making corporate purchases of land. There are some very small reservations. Near here is a place where we drive across the narrow side of a reservation where it is less than a mile wide. It seems like some reservations consist of a welcome sign, a casino exit and a sign stating that you are leaving the reservation. Kulshan is sacred to several tribes. The Lumi and Nooksack people have ancient stories of the mountain. Its English Name, Mount Baker was given to it by the explorer George Vancouver who named it for 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker of HMS Discovery. The mountain also was known as Mount Carmel, named by Spanish explorer Gonzalo Lopez de Haro, who mapped it in 1790.

Mount Baker is the third-highest mountain in Washington and the fifth-highest in the Cascade Range. It is surrounded by wilderness and capped with more glaciers than any other mountain in the Cascades except for Mount Rainier. In 1999 Mount Baker ski resort set the world record for the largest amount of snowfall in a single season at 1,140 inches (95 feet). It also is an active volcano with a visible crater on one side. The crater is the reason for the indigenous name Kulshan. In the Lumi language, kwəlshé:n is the word for a puncture wound and refers to the crater on the mountain.

Living here and driving regularly between Mount Vernon and our son’s farm northwest of Ferndale, we are struck by the views of the mountain. Some days we can see little in the fog and rain. Some days parts of the mountain are visible while clouds obscure other parts. Some days the mountains appears to be far away. Some days it appears to be very close. The actual distance from our son’s place is 30 miles. It is a little farther from our home - perhaps 45 or 50 miles. Our house is at 190 feet above sea level. The top of Mount Baker is 10,781 feet. That is a steep rise in a short distance. The result is that there are lots of places that afford a good view of the mountain. There is a Bakerview Park and a Bakerview Street and a number of trails, roads and locations that bear the name Kulshan.

Like the indigenous people who have lived in this area for thousands of years, we newcomers are learning to orient ourselves to the mountain. We understand how the ancients felt that the mountain had a spirit and lent its identity to the people who lived within sight of it. It seems to us as if it has “moods” as the clouds girl around it. It helps us to understand where we are in this new place. We celebrate the days when the clouds part and the sun shines on Kulshan.