Episode 3 | 26m 46s | Video has closed captioning.
Join Alice to explore the North Cascades National Park. Full of glacier lakes and rugged peaks, Alice explores some of the park's best trails from family friendly options like Blue Lake to seriously steep treks like the Sahale Glacier.
Aired: 01/30/24
Problems Playing Video? | Closed Captioning
(no audio) (lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (calm music) (calm music continues) - If you're traveling through America and you want to see glaciers, one place you might think to visit is Glacier National Park in Montana.
But right now I am standing in a national park that actually has the largest glacier system outside Alaska in the United States.
Welcome, everybody, to the North Cascades National Park in Washington.
(calm music) This park has 300 glaciers and 300 lakes, and you bet, it has some pretty stunning scenery.
It's separated into three distinct areas, the northern section which extends north to the Canadian border, the Ross Lake area on the eastern side, and the Lake Chelan National Rec Area in the southeast corner.
This national park has just one paved road that runs east to west through the park, and it's called Highway 20.
So, most people that are coming to this park, if you're not backpacking or getting out on one of the hiking trails, you're gonna be traveling along this route and stopping at some of the points of interest.
There are multiple places to stop.
Right now I'm at Washington Pass and there are some fantastic other passes along this route that you're gonna want to spend some time checking out the views.
(gentle music) (gentle music continues) More than 90% of this park is designated as wilderness, so the best way to explore it is out on foot hiking and backpacking.
I'm gonna be doing a little bit of both in this episode and to get our feet wet, I had thought I would start us with the Blue Lake Trail, which takes us out to, you guessed it, a beautiful lake.
The trail's 2.2 miles, but it has some serious elevation gain.
(relaxing music) (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) All right, we have made it to Blue Lake.
Absolutely beautiful here.
You can still see some snow here behind me, and this trail really wasn't too bad.
If you wanna come here on a hot day, you could even swim in this lake.
(relaxing music) There aren't a lot of national parks in America where you don't have to get an entry ticket, but the North Cascades is one of those where you're not required to have a National Park Pass.
You will need a National Forest Pass, however, to park at many of the trail heads.
You can pick these up at local outdoor retailers, some of the National Forest Visitor Centers and the visitor centers within the park here too.
So they're about $30 for a year, or you can get a multi-day pass as well.
(relaxing music) (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) I'm on one of the famous dirt roads here.
If you have come to the Cascades before or you're planning a trip here, you will read a lot about the fact that you've gotta get out on some dirt roads if you really wanna see any of the hiking and backpacking trails.
Right now we're heading to a backpacking trail to Sahale Arms, and I'm gonna be camping on top of a glacier.
To get there, we have to go about 11 miles on this dirt road, which is pretty much like an old school washboard, and it is gonna be a slow going.
We're just gonna go, you know, six miles an hour and get there soon enough.
But this should be a really beautiful hike and I'm really excited to get to see this beautiful national park early in the morning and late at night.
(calm music) (calm music continues) (calm music continues) (calm music continues) I am on the trail now up to a Cascade Pass, which will be kind of my first stop along this trail before I continue on.
Today, I am hiking with an umbrella (chuckles) because it is really hot out and this trail is actually really exposed.
So, we'll see how it goes.
This is my first time umbrella hiking.
Not sure I'm gonna love it or not.
If you are doing this trail, you do need to be really careful about parking your car here, not only because there have been some break-ins, but there's also been a lot of bear activity one kind of habituated.
So, do not leave anything scenty or smelly in your car.
Make sure you put it in some sort of container, a bear bag, and definitely don't leave it out for anyone to be able to see it.
(calm music) (calm music continues) (calm music continues) Right now I'm just about halfway up to Cascade Pass.
Pretty steady incline coming up here, but not too terrible.
And past some people that stayed at the glacier last night that said it was just absolutely beautiful and there were a lot of mountain goats.
(calm music) (water trickling) (birds chirruping) I am just getting above the tree line now on Cascade Pass.
As you can see, a couple glaciers behind me here.
Absolutely beautiful.
Couple more miles to go until camp, but I did see on the map that there's also a little glacial-fed lake up here off a side trail.
I'm gonna try to hit that before we head up to camp.
(calm music) (calm music continues) (calm music continues) (calm music fades) (insects chirping) (relaxing acoustic music) (relaxing acoustic music continues) (relaxing acoustic music continues) (relaxing acoustic music continues) (relaxing acoustic music continues) Wow, it is spectacular up here.
I just passed the trail that goes down to the lake, which you can see behind me here.
It's already 5:30, so I'm probably gonna go for a morning swim here and not hike down there right now.
I'm gonna get up to my camp spot here at the glacier and get set up for the night.
(relaxing acoustic music) Talk about a spectacular view.
You know, the Cascades actually have a nickname, the American Alps, and I think you can probably tell why by looking at this viewpoint here.
You know, we've got waterfalls in the background here, glacial-fed lake, just spectacular greenery and wild flowers.
This hike has been so beautiful.
It's been challenging as it's been really steep coming up here, but we're just about to camp.
Just a little bit left and then we'll be camping up here in some of the glaciated parts of the mountain.
And there aren't many glaciers left, unfortunately up here, but the glaciers that shaped this mountain range made them into some of the steepest mountains in the United States.
(relaxing acoustic music) (relaxing acoustic music continues) (relaxing acoustic music continues) (relaxing acoustic music fades) Hello there.
Oh, is this your rock?
(tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) This is just absolutely amazing.
Wow!
What an absolute pleasure it is to be up here.
That was a hard hike.
I'm just making some dinner now and I lucked out and got one of these campsites that's kinda over here by itself, so I don't have any neighbors.
Everyone else is up over the hill, but there are a lot of spots up here.
You do have to book these in advance and the glacier is just right over the edge of this camera.
So, what just an absolutely fantastic place to be able to spend the night and wake up to in the morning.
(tranquil music) This mountain range of steep and jagged summits has been shaped by glaciers and erosion.
In 1980, the region contained some 750 glaciers.
Today there are far fewer.
And while they may be shrinking in number they are no less important to the ecosystem.
That's because glaciers store a lot of water feeding lakes and rivers, which provide 25% of the region's water supply for people and provide habitat for spawning salmon and trout, and much of the other life in this area.
(tranquil music) This camp is one of the highest campsites you'll find in the National Park.
And taking my eyes off the stunning views of the snow covered peaks was nearly impossible.
During the last 2.4 million years, numerous ice ages have repeatedly blanketed much of the range with ice.
The large valley glaciers carved out deep valleys and the expanded alpine glaciers carved out our alpine lakes.
It is a beautiful site to behold, and one I will not soon forget.
(tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) After sleeping on a mountain peak and having coffee with the goats, there was nothing quite as refreshing as swimming in this alpine lake.
The North Cascades are among the largest wild areas in the lower 48 states and wildlife in the park is vastly diverse and abundant.
Keep your eyes peeled for black-tailed and mule deer, marmots, pikas, elk, and black bear.
But one species you won't see is the grizzly bear.
Although this mountain habitat is some of the most prime habitat for grizzly bear, full of snow-covered glaciers for winter dens, meadows full of grasses, forests full of summer berries, and rivers full of spawning salmon, this park has been devoid of this large omnivore for decades.
In late 2023, federal agencies asked for public comment on bringing back the grizzly bear to the North Cascades with hopes of establishing about 25 bears in the first five to 10 years.
(tranquil music) The North Cascades aren't just an abundant place for wildlife, but also for vegetation.
Among the more than 1,600 vascular plant species identified, there are the dominant hemlocks and pacific silver firs in the forest on the western mountain slopes.
Stands of giant and ancient western red cedars in lower valleys and the broad-leaved trees such as cottonwoods, alders, and willows that are found interspersed with the conifers along the streams.
Sadly, like many forests in the Northwest, this park has been no stranger to wildfire that has scarred the landscape and taken the lives of many trees and plants.
But where fire once was, new life springs.
Ferns grow in profusion in most mountain habitats, as do flowering plants such as heather and daisy, which can be found blooming in the deep mountain valleys all the way to the high alpine meadows.
Hundreds of mushroom species thrive in the moist woodland areas and lichens range from the lowland forest to otherwise bare rock on tops of the highest peaks.
Right now I'm in the historic town of a Newhalem.
This is on the western side of the park.
It is where you'll find the main visitor center.
There's also one of the main established campgrounds here for RVs and tents.
You'll find a general store here, an information center, and some of the historical information about this area.
It was actually built around 1919 for people working on the hydroelectric station that you will see parts of all throughout this park as many of the lakes here are actually dammed as part of the big hydroelectric project run by Seattle Light.
Right now I'm just heading over to the visitor center, which is here in Newhalem.
Now, this area also has some of the more accessible trails in the park and there are not a lot of those here in the North Cascades, which is just one of the reasons why this is actually one of America's least visited national parks.
Last year, I think they got just 30,000 visitors, which is a far cry from parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite, which see millions of visitors.
Now, the Cascades, as I've already said in this video, are some of the steepest mountains in America.
So, exploring this area means you really have to be a serious hiker or backpacker to see most of it, especially with this only one park road that's paved.
If you can't get off into the back country, you're not gonna be able to see a ton of this national park, but Newhalem is a great spot.
If you do wanna explore some of the more accessible places, there are the Trail of the Cedars, which is great, which goes from the Newhalem Campground.
You can also come explore the Ladders and Gardens near the hydroelectric station, the gorge here.
And then a lot of the overlooks have little short trails as well.
So if you're just driving the 20, there are some other accessible trails that you can do as well.
But if you really wanna see this park, you've gotta strap on those hiking boots, grab your trekking poles, get prepared, and head off into the woods.
(relaxing music) If you're looking for a handicap-accessible trail pop by the visitor center here in Newhalem.
You can hop on the Sterling Munro Trail, which has some beautiful boardwalks.
It's really short and has some spectacular views of the mountain ranges here.
And this is really the area we're gonna find more of these accessible trails.
So if you can't hike for whatever reason, you're gonna be able to find some of those trails in this area around the Newhalem Campground and Visitor Center.
I am just about to start the next hike right now.
I'm gonna be heading up to Sourdough Mountain Lookout.
You know, the hardest thing I think about coming to any national park is just deciding what to do with the limited time that you have in the place.
You know, most of us don't have a week or two weeks to explore a national park, and that's especially dependent here in the North Cascades because most of the hikes take most of the day and you're gonna want some recovery because they are steep and they are oftentimes pretty difficult.
So, you're gonna wanna make sure you have enough water and sun protection to be able to get back on the trail the next day as well.
Now, Sourdough Mountain Lookout is beautiful.
We're gonna see just in a minute here how beautiful as we head up the trail, but if you're looking for some other areas to hike, Maple Pass is great, which is more so on the east side.
On the west side you have Thornton Lake, which also has Trapper Peak that you can go to, and there's also Diablo Lake, but there's a lot of great hikes in this area.
I definitely recommend hopping on all trails or getting one of the trail books that's about the North Cascades so you can choose which areas you want to go to.
And I will say also that this national park is not just this national park unit, it is also made up of the Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas as well.
So, it's a really big area and you've got a lot more to do over in the Lake Chelan area.
There are more hotels over there.
This is in the southern kind of southeastern section of this wilderness area.
And if you want to boat and canoe and kayak, I definitely recommend getting over there.
And the Ross Lake area has the one and only National Park Hotel that you can stay in.
I say hotel loosely because it's actually more of a waterfront cabin.
There's only 14, so if you wanna stay in this national park, that's gonna be your best bet unless you're camping or bringing your RV.
(tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) This hike is 10 plus miles and has 5,000 feet of elevation change.
So, it's definitely a leg burner.
You're pretty much ascending for the first several miles.
And from what I read, it takes most people about three to 4 1/2 hours to get up to the lookout tower and then a couple of hours to get back down.
(tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) This trail, it is steep.
I haven't even gone a mile yet but we've done more than a thousand feet of elevation gain, so whew, it's hard.
It's also about 90 degrees today, so it is very hot.
If you are coming to this park in the summer, which is really the only time you could come, (chuckles) you really need to start early.
Wear long sleeves and pants if you can for sun protection and bring more water than you think you're gonna need.
(tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) (footsteps thumping) (tranquil music) This hike has just spectacular views from the top.
You can see the mountain ranges, you can see the lake below.
But the only thing I can think about right now is jumping in those turquoise waters.
(tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (footsteps thumping) (water lapping) (tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) Well, I wanted something refreshing and I think I found it.
That water is a lot colder than it looks, but I feel absolutely fantastic now.
This park has had some absolutely spectacular scenery from the mountain goats up on that glacier to these turquoise lakes.
And it's so funny because this is actually one of the least visited parks in the United States probably because so much of this park is wilderness, also it's just got this one main paved road and the hikes are seriously challenging.
So if you're coming here and you wanna explore, definitely come prepared, come with some training behind you as well if you wanna get out and see some of these hikes, some of those mountain passes, even maybe that glacier.
So, I hope you enjoyed this video.
I am going to jump in the water one more time and then I'm off to explore some more of Washington's amazing national parks.
I will see you guys on the next adventure.
As always, I'm Alice Ford.
Never stop exploring.
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