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North Cascades National Park

Teal lakes, glaciers, mossy trees

By Scott Richardson

August 26^th, 2021

What's better than getting a bunch of friends together after a year of isolation?

This trip originated over a year ago when a group of friends booked a rally driving class outside of Seattle. While that's not my interest, I do love Seattle and have had North Cascades on my to-do list for a while.

Our Seattle itinerary read like the first few results of a TripAdvisor search for "Seattle." We hit the Pike Place Market, a donut shop downtown, Kerry Park for a late afternoon view of the skyline, Columbia Center for an even higher view, and spent a day at the Boeing Museum. While I'd visited the city before, I'd skipped most of the tourist attractions, but they were quite fun.

After a few short days in the city, it was time to head to North Cascades National Park for a healthy dose of the mountains.

I hit the road early to start the drive into the park. I had planned for a two-hour drive from Issaquah, but a last-minute decision to drive up to Cascade Pass added an additional hour in transit. The drive was quiet as I traveled through mossy forests and climbed towards foggy peaks.

As I drove up Cascade River Road, I entered the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, then came upon the sign for North Cascades National Park. Officially I had entered one of America's least-visited national parks.

While I had read conflicting reports that damage from a rockslide had been cleared from the road, I came to a closed gate three miles from the trailhead. A sign warned that the road had been washed out, hiking or biking the last few miles might be possible, but may require crossing a creek with ropes.

Given that I had already traveled 18+ miles on a potholed, sometimes gravel road, I decided an extra six miles of hiking seemed more rewarding than a 36-mile drive to nowhere. I laced up my boots and walked around the gate hoping I could cross any obstacles in the road. Luckily for me, a backhoe was actively clearing boulders from the road, and had already diverted the creek so no crossing was necessary. In total, I measured an additional three miles and 1200' of elevation gain from the car to where I had initially planned to start my hike.

Luckily, the scenery was interesting all along the road as it followed the Cascade River. After a few miles through a damp forest, the view opened to magnificent peaks covered in glaciers and waterfalls.

The hike to Cascade Pass was spectacular. While many of the early views were already accomplished from the road, the vistas got better as the trail climbed above the trees. Throughout the first section of the hike, the sound of water cascading down the rocks on the other side of the valley provided a steady soundtrack.

Eventually, the forest opened up to meadows as I neared the pass. The view was incredible: mountain peaks with hanging glaciers were visible in all directions.

The hike back down started off just as incredible as there was a steady view of the valley for the first portion. However, once I reached the forest, the switchbacks I had previously climbed now seemed neverending as they wound their way back to the trailhead. Once "finished" with the trail, there were still three additional miles of walking on the closed road to reach the car.

The next morning, I woke up way too early and drove an hour east to hike Maple Pass. At the trailhead, I met a man named Paul who is currently spending his early retirement hiking through the northwest. We ended up hiking the entire trail together, which made for a nice change of pace from the solo hikes I usually do on these trips.

The previous day I muttered to myself "Cascade Pass is going to be a hard view to beat." But, somehow, Maple Pass was even more impressive. Around every turn in the trail was another peak, waterfall, or lake to marvel at. The early morning fog still lingered creating a series of layers to the landscape. Later in the trail, wildflowers bloomed adding even more color to a saturated landscape.

Having logged 20 miles and 5,000 feet of elevation gain in my first day and a half in the park, and seeking a respite from the heat, I hit some easy trails in the cool forest near my campsite to finish off the day.

One of the highlights of my itinerary for the week was making a return visit to the rainforests of Olympic National Park. Unfortunately, I had to cut my trip short to attend the funeral for my grandfather. As a kid, we visited Olympic on one of the family trips we took with my grandparents. They're some of my favorite memories, and ones I hoped to repeat with my wife and friends later on this trip. Luckily, the rest of the group explored the peninsula after I headed home.

North Cascades provided a nice substitute for the Olympic rainforests. Moss hung from the trees, backlit in the late afternoon sun. Waterfalls streamed over rocks and eventually made their way into the teal water of the Skagit River.

The colors of the water in North Cascades is striking. It looks like someone cranked up the saturation and took some artistic liberty with all of the lakes, rivers and creeks.

I camped along the Skagit River near Newhalem, but opted to spend little time in my campsite. The mountains were much more interesting than the river. Plus the campsite smelled a bit too much like sewage due to its convenient location next to an outhouse.

Each night, I drove out to Diablo Lake, made dinner, and watched the sunset over the mountains. At twilight, I headed out in search of the milky way which glowed above the landscape brighter than anywhere I've seen lately.

I was a few days too early for the peak of the Perseids, but still, I found quite a few meteors as they blazed across the sky.

On my final day in North Cascades, I wondered around the Stetattle Creek for a while, enjoying the coolness of the forest, and the vibrance of its color.

North Cascades is the 43rd American national park that I've visited, and my third new park this year. At current count, I have only 20 more parks to go to complete my challenge of visiting all 63 national parks by my 40th birthday.