The next stop for Beth and me was North Cascades National Park in upstate Washington. It was less than a five hour drive from Mount Rainier, and it went smoothly. Our plan was to spend 2 nights in the park. A check of the weather for North Cascades made us change our minds.
The day of our arrival was very nice. Sunny and temperatures in the upper 60s. However, the forecast for the following day was for rain beginning in the afternoon and temperatures in the 50s. Not an ideal environment in which to be tent camping. After some deliberation, we decided to spend just the one night and pack up and leave the campground before the rains moved in to keep ourselves, the tent, and our belongings dry. A wise choice we felt.
Since we arrived just before lunch, we would have plenty of time to hike and explore the rest of the day. Beth prepared a hot lunch of pancakes, which we devoured like ravenous wolves (they were a nice change from the run of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we had been eating) and then we consulted our park map and selected the Thunder Knob trail to hike.
The Thunder Knob trail is a four mile out and back hike which ascends to a summit overlook of Diablo Lake, a man-made lake created when the Diablo River was dammed up for a hydroelectric project. The really neat thing about the lake is its color – a deep green. The same glacier “flour” that gave the Hoh River in Olympic its blue color, was responsible for the green color of Diablo Lake. The difference in color, according to a park ranger we spoke with, is the result of the depth of the water and the amount of sun that strikes it. The deeper lake apparently soaks up more of the sun and refracts more of the green spectrum. There’s today’s science lesson.
Regardless of the reason, the green lake was a beautiful site from the summit. It is surrounded by dense forests and it provides a unique look into the Cascade mountains. We really enjoyed the hike and the various views of the different snow covered peaks we got to see as we ascended and descended the mountain trail. We especially liked the return trip to our campsite as it was all downhill!
When we reached the bottom of the trail, we wandered over to the lake itself and gazed at it from ground level. From this vantage point, we could see the spot from which we had looked down at the lake from the mountain top. It was interesting to see the two perspectives, each beautiful.
North Cascades didn’t have many more hiking trails that fit into our condensed schedule. Actually, it didn’t have any more, as most of the other trails were 8 miles or more in length and we wouldn’t have time to tackle one of them during our remaining stay. Instead of hiking, we just relaxed a bit around our campsite and then had supper.
We felt better about cutting out of the park a day early, as we were happy to have experienced what is probably the prettiest hike in the park with the great view of the Lake. We were also able to get our Passport stamp for North Cascades and enjoy another National Park on our list. And the fact that we were leaving with dry clothes and a dry tent made our decision even better.
The next park up is Glacier in Montana. It will be our first time in that state as we continue our quest to visit all 50 states. Up until this trip, we hadn’t seen either Oregon or Washington. After Montana, we will need just North Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan to complete the continental United States. We have been to Hawaii, so it sounds like Alaska will be a future escapade.