Rainy

Pass

The area around North Cascades includes Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas.  And the park is split into north and south sections with SR20 and the Skagit River creating a corridor that separates the two.  We knew that we’d come to Rainy Pass on our way into the park and planned to stop for “Rainy” photos at the pass.  Seems they have a lake too, so we got a bonus hike and pictures at Rainy Lake.  And it was just the start of some of the majestic landscapes we’d see in our visit to North Cascades.  The slopes are so steep and the snow so heavy, that the trees are curved at their bases due to a phenomenon called “snow creep.”  Nerdy.  Cool.

Diablo Lake

and Route 20

As mentioned, SR 20 bisects the park.  It runs alongside the Skagit River and the many dams along the way create beautiful lakes and a bunch of hydroelectricity.  It’s kinda hard to get photos without wires and towers in the frame, but we survived.  And Rainy’s pretty incredible with framing and editing.  One of the most stunning views is anywhere above Diablo Lake.  The abrupt mountain peaks and deep blue water make any photo a postcard.  We were able to take Ruby across the dam at Diablo and also on one of the turnoffs that took us to the lodge where they run ferry boats around the lake.  Due to the pandemic, the ferries were only available for lodge guests, so we lost out on that one.  Cruising around on the lake would have been fun.  Along the road, there are several other nice views, including some waterfalls, but Diablo Lake is the highlight.  We stayed near the western end of the park at Newhalem Campground.  There’s a nice hike around the campground that meanders through pine forest and borders the Skagit River.  There were rangers at the visitor center giving out maps and info, but the actual visitor center was closed.  Overall not the greatest, but between Coronavirus and record heat, they get a pass.    

Making It

Official

Neither the campground, nor the visitor center are actually inside the park.  In my exhaustive research, it looked like the only way for us to officially set foot inside the park was to take one of the hikes off SR20.  The Bridge Creek Trail in North Cascades is a section of the 2650 mile long Pacific Crest Trail which ends not too far from our home in San Diego.  Having hiked on the Appalachian Trail back east, the idea of hiking on the PCT was a plus for us.  Along the trail, there were some really amazing flowers and crossing Bridge Creek was pretty.  But we have a beef with whoever said it was 1.1 miles from the trailhead to the park boundary.  It was more like 1.6 miles, but throwing an extra round trip mile at us isn’t that bad.  It was just so freaking hot that day and after the pretty flowers and bridge crossing, the trail turned into Jurassic Forest, with an almost invisible path and an overabundance of bugs.  But, we finally made it to the park boundary and have the photos to prove it.  Mission accomplished.

We didn’t make the time to really do North Cascades right.  Rainy’s already noted that we need to return to Stehekin and Lake Chelan.  We’ll tie that into a visit to Winthrop when we head that way in the future.