I spent two nice days at North Cascades National Park. I hate to admit but I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t do any research, just made the reservation because I was close by. Then I learned that highway 20 winds through a valley with huge mountains on both sides!
I stopped at the North Cascades Visitor Center to ask for suggestions, since I’m traveling with my dog. The ranger at the information desk told me the region around highway 20 isn’t officially in the National Park, so dogs are allowed on the trails! What a wonderful surprise! Wish more National Parks were like this!
The sky was smoky from summer fires on Tuesday and there was a 90% chance of rain on Wednesday. We rushed around on Tuesday to see what I could see, not knowing how Wednesday would turn out. On Wednesday morning, the skies had cleared and the rain wasn’t supposed to start until around 4:00 pm!!
Tuesday night, I found information about a trail to Rainy Lake on the South East side of the park. It is supported to be an easy one mile walk and sounded like a good way to start the day. On the way to the Rainy Lake Trial, we stopped at Lake Diablo Overlook to take new pictures on a clear day. What a different one day can make!
The trail to Rainy Lake is paved and is a very easy .9 mile walk. A couple breaks in the trees like me see some surrounding mountain peaks. Rainy Lake itself is spectacular.
Now that we are as far south and east in the park as we were going to go, we started working our way back to Newhalem campground. While driving back north/west, I noticed a few turnoffs where I could stop to take pictures of some of the mountain peaks.
Just by chance, I pulled over at one turnout to let a car pass and there was a trail going down to Ruby Creek. After a few switchbacks, we were at a bridge going over Ruby Creek.
After that, we stopped at the Thunder Arm branch of Lake Diablo to take new pictures and then walked the Trail of the Cedars in Newhalem. The sky was starting to look threatening by then and I thought it was time to head back to camp before the rain starts. Not a bad day…
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