This was one of those I-had-no-idea-this-was-a-national-park-before-I-started-this-trip parks. This trip has definitely been a great geography lesson that I forgot about or never payed attention to in grade school. I’m not complaining. I’m happy to be learning it now.
North Cascades boarders Canada in Northwest Washington and is home to mossy forests that I have never experienced before. It also contains the largest concentration of glaciers in the U.S. excluding Alaska. The North Cascades Highway divides the North Unit from the South Unit and gives good views of both the units. The road actually is located in the Ross Lake National Recreation area and some of the short pleasant trails along the route are in this recreation area which was a bonus since dogs were allowed on those trails but not in the NP trails.
We entered the park from the east and stopped at the Washington Pass overlook before making our way through the park to the town of Marblemount where our RV park was located. The South Unit was on full display here and it was interesting to marvel at how a paved road was constructed through this rather treacherous pass.
The rest of the road was scenic and provided the first time I saw a sign that read, “Caution, severe side winds next 16 miles.”
The following day, we unhitched our vehicles of choice and they proved a fun ride on the well-maintained not-too-steep eastward Wash. 20. We strapped Rocky along with us and met a bit of cold wind and scattered showers (the western part of the park receives 100 inches of rainfall per year.) After a short visit to the visitor center we found ourselves in the small town of Newhalem which is home to the crews that work on the river dams and a nice little Trail of the Cedars which you access by crossing over the Skagit River on a suspension bridge.
Here we got a first glimpse of the magic “glacier milk” that’s created by the glaciers that grind up the fine light-colored silt that turns the creeks and lakes the most impressive milky green I have seen yet!
The cedar grove was gorgeous and cool to see the line of trees that formed by growing on the nutrients of a downed log. The moss covering everything (on all the trails really) made me feel like a little adventurous garden gnome.
I had competition for cutest little garden gnome status:
We picked some Oregon Grapes which were super tart and I found out aren’t actually grapes.
We also saw a banana slug which I first thought was Rocky’s turd when my husband first pointed it out to me. It was huge!
Then we parked near the Gorge Dam and strolled through a beautifully kept garden to Ladder Creek Falls which are lit up at night and this old guy also had speakers along the trail to serenade strollers back in the 1920s. Unfortunately we didn’t hear any tunes or see a light show but it was still pretty gorgeous.
A tree growing on a tree. Talk about clingy.
My favorite trail was the Thunder Creek Knob Trail which provided a splendid view of Lake Diablo and its unbelievably green water.
When we returned from our walk, someone had put some wildflowers on the brake handles of our scooters which made me happy.
A few scoots down the road we met the eastern edge of the park and took one more short trail down the boardwalk of Happy Creek Forest Walk before turning back around and scootering 30 miles back to our campsite. Like its name implied, the creek was infectious as we smiled and walked around the lush forest.
On the way back we stopped at the Lake Diablo lookout to get one last look at the spectacular glacial lake and dam that helps power the city of Seattle.
This guy got a lot of attention. It’s not too hard to see why.
We stopped again at the Colonial Village Campground and walked a mile or so of the Thunder Creek Trail that stretches 19 miles. There were lots of hollowed logs and beautiful moss-covered stumps and I had to dip my feet in the magical blue-green water to see if it would heal my aching feet. Beautiful ferns lined the way.
One more stop at the Gorge Creek Overlook which was a view that was blocked by thick trees. On the way back down I twisted my ankle and skinned my knee. Back at the campsite, we broke open our first-aid kit for the first time to find a Band-Aid.
We checked out the Marblemount Diner in town for supper which had decent fish ‘n chips and burgers before soaking in our park’s hot-tub to call an end to our emerald-filled day cascading through our minds (see what I did there?)
Class C M.D. 