One more off the bucket list!

Cascades National Park was established October 2, 1968 and is celebrating its 50^th anniversary in a few months.

The area was preserved both because of its beauty, as well as because of its geological significance. From the aspect of beauty, this area is referred to as the American Alps. I have been to the Alps in Europe, and I can confirm that the North Cascade Range is every bit as high, rugged and stunning, earning it the nickname.

It turns out that in the early 1900’s that this area was able to generate reliable hydro electric power. Because the boundaries of the Park contain a third of all the glaciers in the lower 48 states (over 300 in all, which interestingly dwarfs the number in Glacier National Park), water cascades down the sides of these mountains even in the hot days of July and August, fed by the glacier melt.

In the early 1920’s, a series of dams was built along the glacier fueled Skagit River to provide all the power needed by the city of Seattle. If not for this essentially free source of limitless electricity Seattle may not have flourished as it did. We visited the Gorge Dam, the Diablo Dam and the Ross Dam, hiked to the dams, and checked out the hydroelectric facilities. The mist created by the waterflow over the dams produces what may be the best rainbows we have ever seen. 

Since the Pacific Crest Trail runs through Northeast of Seattle is the only National Park in the state of Washington we had never visited. North the center of the Park, the Woman wanted to hike a bit of it. Well, even though late in the month, it’s still May. So, when we finally found where the PCT was, it was under at least a dozen feet of snow. We actually had to dig out this PCT trail marker just to be able to prove we were here. No hiking was in the forecast for today.

Tomorrow we cross the border into Canada and begin our slog to Alaska!

Talk to you soon!