North Cascades National Park is one of the least visited National Parks in the lower 48. Judging from the license plates in campgrounds and at trailheads, eight out of 10 visitors are Washingtonians, one is from California and the other is a pick your plate state. Two hundred miles from Seattle to the west or Spokane from the east, or forever from anyplace else, it takes determination to wind your way into this world of jagged glaciated peaks, towering above alpine meadows, moss covered valleys and majestic forests.
Taking Highway 158 from Coulee City, we entered Okanogan County at the gushing Chief Joseph Dam executing a masterful turnaround at the spillway (there should be a no RV sign at the top) …
into the idyllic apple and cherry orchard communities from Brewster to Pateros, then picked up the Cascade Loop Scenic Highway, stopping in Twisp for gas and a Bavarian cream donut before passing thru booming artsy Winthrop and up into the Washington Pass.
At the first site of the pass, cars haphazardly pull over and spill children out to play on snow banks in July. Dizzying heights and pop-up waterfalls line a motorcycle loving gateway to North Cascades National Park. Every time we enter a new park system we have the same reaction – jaw dropping awe. You think you’ve seen one mountain and you’ve seen them all, but when you get there you’ve never seen anything like it. These are not the Smokies, or the Rockies or the Shenandoah. These are more extreme and rugged with 2 million acres of contiguous wilderness.
The two National Park campgrounds, both near the wilderness around Ross and Diablo Lakes, had an open site here and there but nothing that we could lock down from Sunday through Thursday. While the campgrounds are large, the number of sites that can fit Roxie are few. Score one for the Class B crowd. Instead, we picked a site in a National Forest campground that had just opened when Washington State went from COVID Red to COVID Yellow.
Pulling off of State Highway 20 at Marblemount, we corkscrewed our way up the Cascade River into the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The road went from asphalt to gravel; from two lanes to one with an occasional shoulder to use for passing oncoming traffic. Ten miles later we turned into Marble Creek campground, descending steeply off the ridge road way down to the banks of the river. As we inched our way along the narrow camp road, we ignored the hypotheticals running through our head concerning oncoming cars, site size, tree clearance, and lack of turn arounds. Pursue Yes!
The campground, hidden in a sub-tropical rain forest was closer in appearance to movie set than real life – at least our real life. Our reserved spot (15) could barely fit Boss alone, so we wedged Roxie into a slightly larger spot nearby that posted an open sign. After a pleasant discussion with the camp host about switching sites, Jennifer, who is full-timing in a 16 foot Casita, drove into town the next day to find internet and take care of the logistics of making the site change legal. In the best tradition of camp hosting, Jennifer filled us in on the area. Within fifteen miles of camp were two of the best hikes in the Cascades. Pursue Yes had paid off again.
In the meantime we settled into rustic camp life – no running water, no electricity, no dump station, vault toilets, aggressive mosquitoes, all in the middle of dense wilderness with little sun getting through the thick canopy to feed our panels. Not surprisingly, we were the only fifth wheel around. Other campers fell into two categories: outdoor addicts in beat up vans loaded with kayaks, or Seattle techies probably shooting a Range Rover and Tesla go camping commercial.
The next morning we followed Cascade River Road to its end, three miles and 1200 vertical feet short of the Cascade Pass trailhead. Boss joined a half-dozen cars on the side of the road while we climbed nature’s stair master for 90 minutes until reaching the trailhead. We’re getting used to these calf stretching vertical climbs, stopping to catch breath for waterfalls, wildflowers and wildlife, which are plentiful and commonplace here.
Fortunately, the Cascade Pass trailhead is special in that the best views of the park’s west side are right there. Dense clouds covering the pass and our aching legs helped us to pass on the further four mile, 3000 ft vertical hike to the pass. We recharged on almond butter sandwiches in the overgrown picnic area as an avalanche fell from the glacier’s toe behind us. Really – not making that up.
Amy, a trail maintenance worker recently sidelined with a knee injury and on radio duty at the trailhead, passed the time with us chatting about the severe nature of the geography. Except for a couple of “tourist” trails at Ross Lake, the wilderness is very difficult to access for the average retiree. Most hikes start with a Glacier NP Mt. Brown, and then continue on from there. The shortest ones can be completed in a long day. We humbly recognize our vertical hiking abilities and have resolved to do what we can and not push beyond reason.
After lunching in an alpine dreamscape, we backtracked to Boss and went on an off-road adventure. Following Amy’s less than sage advice, we took the off-road trail to Hidden Lake. Was it more impossibly narrow or impossibly steep? It is so hard to choose.
The Ford company will be happy to know that all off-road options on the FX4 package worked as advertised including a cool feature called hill descent control which lets you slowly descend vertical walls. Ferns served as guardrails to protect us from the vertical drop off the side of the mountain. We white-knuckle rock climbed, and that was just to get to the trailhead.
Imagine what the trail was like. While we did not have the stamina, daylight or and ice axe to make it all the way to Hidden Lake, we did push deep into the land of the Ewok, crossing four streams and two rock scrambles in a magic forest, before returning to Boss and the X-games descent.
Boss made it up his trail, but Sheric was 0 for 2. At least we went down swinging. The beauty of the North Cascades is that you don’t have to hike to a pay-off view. The pay-off is right there in front of you all the time. Waterfalls, huge spectacular waterfalls, are so numerous as to become commonplace. The western, wet-side, of the Cascades is a lush, cool, rain forest with glacier capped peaks. Exploring it is so rewarding, but also so not for the meek.
