Road Trip, Day 7: North Cascades National Park

Day 7 shall henceforth be known as the day we hiked 12 miles and only ate one meal. The one meal thing was an oops - we weren't really great at having a breakfast and our days often ended pretty late.

We arrived at North Cascades in the late morning. North Cascades is one of those National Parks which is a majority of backcountry trails and surrounded by national forests and other protected wildernesses. SR 20 bisects the park, and a majority of the highlights are along that road. Not having the luxury of time nor the equipment, we opted for the shorter, simpler trails while still seeing some good sights.

We started at Diablo Lake which doesn't look very scary:

We headed nearby to the Thunder Knob trail which allowed us to view Diablo Lake from above. 3.6 miles RT and a handful of easy switchbacks. Definitely worth the view:

Can you believe how blue the water is? Striking isn't it?

We headed back and drove further down the road the Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and took the moderate Ross Dam trail. It was a little strenous and we definitely starting to feel the hike in our legs, but the dam was amazing. I was scared of the height:

And definitely ducked when a wind threatened to blow me off the dam while my companion, L, laughed at me. We reversed course which of course was uphill all the way. We did stop to admire a waterfall:

I thought I was done hiking for the day, but we had spotted one more trail that intrigued us.

In the Rainy Pass Area, also not quite in the park but close enough to count, there was a trail that lead to Lake Ann. It said that the trail was 4 miles RT and "easy". Though my body thought it wasn't the best idea, we embarked anyway. Well, it said there was 200 ft of elevation gain. We quickly found it that it was a lie (try somewhere around  600 ft) and more strenuous than advertised. It wasn't too bad but the trail wasn't as clear as it usually is in a national park and I had to constantly watch my feet. And we (I) were/was already a little weary. Thank goodness for adrenaline - that definitely got me through it.

At least there were pretty things to look at on the way:

And the view:

Close but not quite:

Finally here!

Even complete with a small island:

We sat and enjoyed the peace while I wildly swatted at mosquitos who were hoping to feast on us and flies that wanted to pester us. Not wanting to hike in the dark, we started to head back.

A marmot greeted us trailside - a running gag - we have now seen/"stalked" 3 marmots in 3 different national parks:

More pretty views:

On our way back to our hotel (and sadly not having encountered any rain), we encountered a dramatic sunset. Though there were wildfires in the park, this is just the sun/clouds:

We stopped at another dam overlook to enjoy the colors:

And headed home to collapse, weary, into bed.

The remaining pictures of the park, here.

The whole adventure, here.

Next up: 2 days in Seattle :)