Last August, I spent a few days on Orcas Island getting to know the Cascade Creek Watershed at the invitation of Ayn Gailey and Sara Farish, authors of the just published Ode Volume One: Orcas Island. Having seen my Orcas sketchbook pages on Instagram (@anthropocenesketchbook), they wanted to include a few of my drawings in the book. This project turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to put together an ecosystem exploration in cohesive set of drawings. I am working on a more narrative presentation of the entire process, but for now, here are all of the completed sketchbook pages!

I visited four different spots along the watershed, starting at the mouth of Cascade Creek where it enters the sea at Buck Bay:

I hiked the loop trail at the Coho Preserve:

I visited Cascade Creek near the middle of its length, at a series of waterfalls:

And finished at the creek’s headwaters at Mountain Lake: