We left Mt Rainier and headed up to the North Cascades National Park. This would be park 35 and was supposed to be a 2 and a half day camping trip. However, we ran into a few issues right off the bat. The original plan was to spend a few days in the North Cascades and then take rt20 (North Cascades highway) west and go to Glacier National Park. To be honest our main focus of the trip was supposed to be Glacier. However, two massive forest fires (Cedar Creek and Varden) closed twenty miles of the highway. There is no ‘fast’ way to go around and our already long planed drive to Glacier became 5(ish) hours longer. We opted to stay only one night in the North Cascades and break up the drive into two days. This was the best of all the bad options.

None the less we pressed on and explored what we could in the day and a half we had in the park. The best take away from this short trip is that we need way more time to properly explore this amazing park. The park is a massive 500k acres divided into two main sections (north and south) with rt20 running almost through the middle of the park.

While efforts to preserve the area started in the late 1800s, its main early protection was through the National Forest Service. The area did not become a National Park until 1969 when Congress created both the North Cascades National park AND the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. Additionally large tracks of adjoining land were designated as the Stephen Mather Wilderness.

We stayed at one of the three campgrounds in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. This is off of rt 20 that cuts east to west throughout the park. While a National Recreation area it is run and maintained by the North Cascades National Park Complex. This area has three major lakes, George, Diablo and Ross Lake. This area also has three major corresponding dams built in the 1920s-1950 that provide a significant amount of power to the Seattle area.

Since our time was very limited we spent it exploring the areas around rt20, the lakes, dams and the North Cascades Visitors Center. We spent both sunset and sunrise at one of the overlooks at Diablo Lake. The campsite was nice but very crowded and very loud. Most visitors are there to either go off into the extensive back country or partake in some water activities. While this area is nice it's all inside of a valley and hard to get a real “feel” for the cascades.

As I’m writing this I have become determined to return and explore the northern section of the park. I would camp around the Heather Meadows Visitors center and explore the high country of that area. This area provides stunning views of Mount Baker and the Cascades in general.