July 16, 2014 Marblemount, Washington – North Cascades National Park

We arrived in Marblemount, population 203, and settled in at a small private campground. Marblemount is the last place to get gas and supplies for the next 75 miles before entering the park.  The campground was conveniently less than a mile from the entrance to North Cascades National Park.  After setting up camp we went to the closest ranger station to get maps and details on the park.

IMG_1373 North Cascades National Park, nicknamed “North American Alps”, is made up of 505,000 acres with jagged peaks, sheer canyons, countless waterfalls, and over 300 glaciers.  The area receives incredible amounts of snowfall each year and many parts of the park are closed from late November to late April.  Some of the roads we traveled had only been open since July 1st. Surprisingly, we found out that this park has more glaciers than any other US park other than Alaska. We thought that honor would have gone to Glacier National Park. A ranger told us that there is more water in one North Cascades glacier than all the glaciers in Glacier National Park.

IMG_1375 IMG_1377 IMG_1393 We spent time driving on the North Cascades Scenic Highway, stopping at many overlooks including Ross Lake, Ross Dam, Diablo Lake, Diablo Dam, Gorge Lake and Gorge Dam, which gave us incredible views of Canada to the north and valleys below.

At Diablo Lake Overlook we attended a Ranger talk about the power of ice.  One startling statistic she told us is that the number of glaciers has diminished by half, in less than 100 years, due to climate change.  We hesitate to use the words “global warming” but the Ranger had photographs of the glaciers in twenty year increments and it was amazing to see the shrinkage of the glaciers in recent times.  While the area gets a lot of snow, the amount of rain instead of snow is increasing.  She said the number of glaciers is increasing because some of the large glaciers are breaking up and becoming two or more instead of just one large glacier.  Her talk certainly gave us something to ponder.

IMG_1401 Ross, Diablo and Gorge dams were built between 1919 and 1967 as part of the Skagit River hydro-electric project and form three reservoirs which supply electricity to the city of Seattle.

Ross Dam

Ross Dam

25 mile long Ross Lake

25 mile long Ross Lake

Ross Lake, which begins in Canada, is the largest of the three reservoirs.

Diablo Lake

Diablo Lake

Find Diane on the Diablo dam?

Find Diane on the Diablo dam?

Diablo Lake is a brilliant turquoise blue caused by refracted light on fine rock sediment called glacial flour.

IMG_1390 We found a nice boardwalk trail through the forest with a lovely little waterfall.  Also during our visit to the park and surrounding area we were able to find several geocaches.  While getting one of the caches we met a husband and wife who were teachers on their summer vacation.  It is always nice to meet fellow cachers in our travels and find a geocache together.

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Mount Baker as viewed from the south

Mount Baker as viewed from the south

Zoomed in view of a Mount Baker glacier

Zoomed in view of a Mount Baker glacier

Another day we drove up to Baker Lake with a beautiful view of Mt Baker.  You will notice the water rushing downstream here is not blue but a gray color because of silt from the glaciers. Baker Lake is 9 miles long and a popular camping, fishing and boating area.

Baker Lake

Baker Lake

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As mentioned in an earlier posting, our plans changed due to the horrible Washington wildfires.  It was shocking to see on the news the reports of the devastation in towns not far from us.  Our hearts and prayers go out to the people affected by the fires and we pray for the safety of the firefighters.  Originally we planned to drive through the North Cascades National Park into eastern Washington to the northern tip of Idaho and then into northwestern Montana to Glacier National Park.  We have decided to continue on to Glacier National Park which means we backtrack down to Seattle and take I-90 across the state.  It makes for a longer drive and the interstate will not be nearly as beautiful and interesting as the drive through the Cascades, but we are determined to get to Glacier National Park this year.  Many thanks to all of you for your concern for our safety.  We will be on the move for the next week and will probably not have much time to post to the blog.  We will check in when we can.

 

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