Road Trip: North Cascades

When we left Glacier, our next stop was North Cascades National Park in WA. We had heard that the wildfires might interfere with our plans to get there, but I couldn't google an exact answer to how would be affected. So we just drove and hoped we would be able to get where we wanted.

Well, that didn't work out so well.

 

As we got closer to our hotel, the smoke got thicker.

Some places looked like wastelands.

When the sun started setting, it was pretty.

By the time we got to our hotel in Winthrop,

the sky looked like it was ON FIRE.

It was beautiful and creepy at the same time.

Our little hotel was cute, but it felt like we shouldn't

be there. Everyone else that we saw were either fire

fighters or family members of fire fighters who came to visit.

Even though Winthrop is only one hour from North Cascades,

the road between them was closed because of the fire.

So we ended up taking a three hour detour and rearranging things a bit.

We had to drive southwest along Lake Chelan.

Still very smoky.

Our last-minute fun stop ended up being at High Trek Chelan

where we did a ropes course and zip line.

It was so fun and scary.

And it was also hot outside.

Care Bear ended up getting a heat stroke

or dehydrated or something.

She was shaky and couldn't see and I had to run

down to the bottom and get her a cold bottle of water.

After she had a few drinks she felt better and kept going.

When you're just watching it, it doesn't look bad.

But when you're doing it, it is SCARY!

Even though you're hooked in and know you won't fall.

Zip line!

You can do this 50 foot free fall at the end to get off the course.

Care Bear did it with no problem or hesitation.

But oh my gosh, it is so scary!

I had the hardest time making myself step off that ledge!

The ropes course is right next to a water park.

We didn't go there, but we got to watch the

people surfing for a few minutes.

It looks so cool!

I'm sure I'd fall on my face right away.

We ended up staying the night in Everett,

just north of Seattle and then heading to

North Cascades the next morning.

I'd never even heard of North Cascades National Park before this trip.

Have you?

I LOVED the views, especially of the teal-colored 

glacier-fed lakes.

But it wasn't a very well-labeled park.

I didn't even know where the park officially started or stopped.

We never had to pay at a gate.

This is called Diablo Lake.

It is absolutely gorgeous and if I have the chance to go back 

to NCNP, I would try to rent a kayak or canoe and spend 

some time on that beautiful water.

I'm on top of the world!

This is at the Washington Pass Observation Site.

You can do a short (less than half a mile) walk to a

beautiful viewpoint.

Ross Lake

We also did a hike around Ladder Creek Falls.

I couldn't find the right starting point,

so I think I made it longer than it needed to be.

We parked across the street from the

Skagit General Store (which was closed bc of COVID)

and ended up walking from there.

We got our steps in.

Ladder Falls was nice.

Gorge Dam

They have a great little nature walk

called Trail of the Cedars.

It's shaded and flat.

There's a little creek/pool of water at the end and

I couldn't believe how CLEAR the water was.

You can see right through this tree.

Skagit River

You don't see totem poles in NC.

There is also a SUPER short hike you can do at the 

North Cascades Visitors Center.

I think it was a five minute hike.

Maybe you should just call it a stroll.

But it leads to a gorgeous view at the end.

These are out of order,

but we also drove through a super cute Alpine-type

town called Leavenworth, WA.

If we weren't already driving three hours out of the way,

I would've loved to stop and explore a bit.

Maybe next time.

I've been to Washington before, but it was just the very southern part when Paul and Daneen were living in Oregon. I'm glad C and I had the chance to see some of the beauty here.

Road Trip: Glacier National Park

 My parents took us to Glacier when we were kids, but I haven't been back since then. Caroline and I were excited to explore here!

Because of COVID, there are limited numbers of passes to enter the Going to the Sun Road, which is the main road to drive through Glacier. I had to log in two months in advance to buy the pass. But I didn't arrange things QUITE right. I didn't realize that when you purchase a pass, it is good for 7 days. We spent two days at Glacier, but I thought we could only do GTS on ONE of the days. Boo. I would've planned things differently if I realized that.

We had a great time anyway.

Our first day was spent outside of the GTS area of the park.

We did a hike to Apikuni Falls.

It was a perfect hike for us.

It was two miles and was a good level of challenge.

It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes,

including time to enjoy the falls while we were up there.

There were wildfires in the Northwest part of the country

while we were there, which definitely impacted our views.

You can tell it's hazy in the background.

Still gorgeous, even through the haze.

The falls!

Andrew got me these hiking shoes for my birthday last year.

They are perfect!

It's a pretty impressive waterfall.

We saw a couple of cairns along the way.

And Caroline made this cute one.

We had to drive on a dirt road for quite a while.

And they were doing construction, so it took some time.

Drove by Lake Sherburne, which was pretty.

The other area we visited the first day

was the Two Medicine Area.

This is Two Medicine Lake.

And this is LOWER Two Medicine Lake.

The water is SO clear and the rocks are colorful and pretty.

We did a short, easy 1.5 mile hike along the

South Shore Trailhead to Paradise Point.

It was a leisurely stroll and took us 40 minutes.

We found huckleberries along the way!

Well, we found another family harvesting huckleberries

and they reminded us what to look for.

They are so yummy!

I sure love exploring with this girl!

My attempt at an artistic shot of the canoes on the shore.

Oh, it was beautiful and soul soothing.

We stayed at Glacier Highland Motel.

It was quite ... rustic.

But it was fine for one night.

It was very close (5 miles) to the West Entrance of Glacier.

And after 6 pm you didn't need a reservation to enter.

So I left Caroline at the hotel watching the Olympics and 

went back to the park to get some sunset pics.

I stopped at a couple different pull-outs by Lake McDonald

to snap the sun going down.

It was gorgeous and relaxing.

The next morning, we hit Going to the Sun.

It is SPECTACULAR!

Every turn is a postcard-worthy view.

I LOVED it.

We spent most of the day driving,

listening to our audiobooks,

and taking in the views.

We drove right by snow piles.

Even in July.

We got out and stretched our legs once in a while.

We used our same GyPSy guide to get us around.

Saint Mary Lake

Care Bear's rock art

My rock art

The whole Going to the Sun Road is about 50 miles

and takes you from one end of the park to the other.

It took us about about two hours to drive it,

with all of our little stops at viewpoints.

We drove from the West entrance to St. Mary's.

Then we started heading back to the West entrance.

You get different views from each direction, so I

loved both drives.

As we were driving along, we saw LOTS of cars

parked along the side of the road.

It was between Two Dog Creek and Mackinaw Bay.

We pulled over and asked what everyone was looking at.

It was a pair of grizzly bears!

So exciting!

We were at a safe distance, which makes them hard to see in the pics.

But we had our binoculars and got pretty good views.

There was a mama and a cub.

So cool!

We enjoyed more gorgeous views on the drive back.

Then in the afternoon we stopped for a hike.

Finding a parking spot was NOT easy.

It took some searching, but we finally nabbed one.

We hiked along Avalanche Creek to Avalanche Lake.

It was almost five and a half miles and took us

just over two hours.

Care Bear is a good sport to go on all these hikes with me.

I LOVE hiking and exploring the beautiful world!

Near the beginning of the trail was my favorite part!

Avalanche creek RUSHES through these

reddish rocks. It is SO beautiful.

The pictures don't do it justice.

We hiked through lots of trees.

And we eventually made it to Avalanche Lake.

We found lots more ground squirrels there.

They are also crazy!

This guy REALLY wanted Care Bear's snack.

What the heck?

The views here were amazing.

There are like five or six super tall and skinny waterfalls

that feed into this lake.

The haze makes it kinda hard to see,

but it was breathtaking.

Love, love, love.

We stayed that night in Kalispel, MT,

where they have regular chain hotels.

I've never been so happy to see a Super 8!

We tried to eat diner at Qdoba, but they closed

early because of staffing issues.

One of the lingering effects of the pandemic is that

fast food places can't get enough workers.

We ended up eating at Taco Bell instead.

And stopped for DELICIOUS ice cream at Sweet Peaks.