This Park North Cascades National Park is in northern Washington State, is a great hiking and backpacking destination in the Pacific Northwest. The North Cascades are a vast wilderness of mountains, glaciers, and gorgeous lakes covered in pine, spruce, and fir. The Park is home to grizzly bears, wolverines, grey wolves, and over 200 bird species! The greatest way to see these world-class mountains is on a hiking trip.
How to Get There
On a day trip from Seattle, the park’s west gate is only two hours distant. Another benefit of visiting this park is that you will not encounter much traffic until you reach Seattle’s northern outskirts. However, I urge that you plan ahead of time for your trip to the North Cascades so that you can visit all places you want in that amount of time.
One of the best parts of a North Cascades highway road trip is that you can drive through the park, unlike an Olympic National Park day excursion. When visiting this National Park, driving the length of the road without stopping would take about 1.5 hours. However, there are many places where you’ll want to take a break, so keep that in mind as you plan your day.
Best time to visit
The best seasons for a day trip to this park from Seattle are the summer and fall. Temperatures in the mid 90s are common in the summer, so dress appropriately and bring a hat and sunscreen. This weather is perfect for a hike followed by a dip in one of the alpine lakes. Insect spray is recommended because bugs can be a nuisance at this time of year.
I recommend traveling in the fall if you want to take the best hikes in the North Cascades. Hiking in the fall will be surrounded by brilliant red, orange, and yellow leaves, and the weather will be milder. You also will not see crowds in summer.
If you keep an eye on hiking reports online, you might be able to spend one day photographing the golden yellow larches. Because they only occur for a few weeks each year, they are rare (usually early October).
In the winter, a day trip is doable, but be mindful of Highway 20 closures. Due to avalanche dangers, the path normally closes in November and does not reopen until May.
Park Entrance Fee
Unlike most national parks, which charge up to $30 to enter, you may visit this park for free on your day trip! If you want to go hiking as part of your trip, you can do so for free. Your backpacking permission must be applied for ahead of time.
Things to Do in North Cascades National Park
This receives many visitors, yet the state of Washington’s largest wilderness can be found here in the northern reaches. Grizzly bears and Grey wolves still frequent the area, and human influence is minimal.
The Service Complex is the focal point of this region. Take note of the term: this isn’t simply a park; it’s a complex that includes the national park and also Ross Lake and Lake Chelan national recreation areas. Congress established the Stephen Mather Wilderness in 1988, which includes almost 93 percent of the entire complex. Unlike many other national recreation areas, Ross Lake and Lake Chelan are wild and remote, with little development.
A wilderness adventure begins with a walk off the beaten road. Hiking in this area needs some forethought and preparation. Although there are shorter pathways, many of them draw the most daring outdoor enthusiasts looking to reconnect with nature for a few or many days. If you’re prepared, there’s nothing else like it in the continental United States.
The North Cascades is one of North America’s most difficult and underappreciated mountain ranges. Over millions of years, a tectonic plate migrating northward from the South Pacific slammed into the North American shoreline, buckling, folding, and altering the sedimentary layers in the area. In certain locations, the North Cascades’ granite is plainly the consequence of this collision and subsequent metamorphosis. In some places, there is a rock that predates the tectonic collision; one upthrust mountain is estimated to be 10 million years old.
Glaciation, both past and present, has added to the geologic complexity of the North Cascades. This area was covered by both mountain glaciers and the continental ice sheet during past ice ages. The ice sheet’s massive U-shaped troughs are still evident today as a visual record of this activity. The glacier’s most noteworthy relic is Lake Chelan, which is located in the heart of the North Cascades’ southern portion. Also, read Shenandoah National Park.
Where to stay?
While a day trip from Seattle to the North Cascades National Park is straightforward, some people may like to extend their holiday by staying for a night or two. Unless you’re camping, there aren’t many places to stay in the park. Within the park’s boundaries, Ross Lake Resort is the only location to stay.