North Cascades NP- 6.30.25

Left June 30th around 9:45 am. Total trip distance 437 miles of loop- Sedro Woolly, Newhalem, Winthrope, Chelan, Manson, Leavenworth, Goodbar and finally Everett. (Got back from Amy and Fritz’s on Sunday the 29th.) We drove North on I-5 and got on to State Route 20 at Burlington, continued on to Sedro Woolly Ranger Station to look for our National Park Stamp Book. No Luck. Met a guy who has been to 407 of the 435 National Park Units! This includes everything- Parks, Memorials, Battlefields, Historic sites, etc. He lives in CA but flies in rents a car and hits as many places as possible. He use a Drawing pad or journal to put his stamps in by year. So a different book for every year. Also has an app he uses - very interesting to talk with.

Day 1- We entered the Park at 12:30 and took a van picture by the sign. Got to the Newhalem Campground 1:30 and drove to the Visitor Center about a mile from campground. It was a hot day- in the 90’s. We got some hiking info, Stamped some paper for collection, watched a movie and head back to the campsite.

We were in site 28 which is close to bathrooms. Good location. On pavement, had a Bear Box, no hook ups, 24/night, reservations thru

Reservation.gov, they release sites 7 days in advance at 7 am for those that didn’t book out 6 months in advance.

We walked the River Loop Trail, 1.8 miles out of the campground along the Skagit River. Had BLT’s for dinner on tortillas. Then drove into Newhalem and walked Trail of the Cedars, 1 mile. Pretty forest walk also along the river. Very quiet night- No Bears, but did use the Bear Box to store gear.

Day 2- Got up fairly early- another hot day 92. Head toward today’s hike. Did stop at Gorge Lake Overlook along the way and walked the short trail along the Gorge and lake views. Arrive at Thunder Knob Trail head about 8:30. Trail head is located just outside Colonial Creek Campground. This hike is 3.8 miles, about 720 feet of elevation gain, switchbacks, pretty forests and Colonial Creek views and crossings. Upper trail more exposed, but great mountain views and less shade so HOT. Pyramid Peak, Colonial Peak and many others. At the top had great views down on Lake Diablo that were gorgeous- arrived on top at 10:10 am. Also met a family of 4 from Alabama and had great conversations with them about their travels. He was a teacher and coach. By afternoon the trail had become busy. We made our way back to the car and drove across the street into Colonial Creek campground and had a nice lunch. Went down to the beach/boat launch area and dipped feet into the lake. It was so cold- numbing cold.

We continued driving east a short distance to the Diablo Lake Overlook. It had great views and easy access from the highway. Drove east to Ross Lake Overlook, but it was too crowded to park. Turned around here and headed back to Newhalem Campground for another night. Went to the Visitor Center , mainly for the air conditioning , another movie , some more trail questions and then back to camp. Chili for dinner, watched two shows and then to bed. Wifi was outstanding in the campground- everywhere else no service. Had to use the iPhone satellite feature which worked but a little clunky.

Day 3- Heading toward Manson, WA to stay at a Harvest Host. It’s another 90’s type day- so hot outside. We left Newhalem Camp ground at 8 am , arrived Chelan Valley Botanical 2:40. Stops along the way: - Ross Lake Overlook, a group of 20 or so getting ready to take a canoeing trip 7 or days; - Stopped at Blue Lake Trail Head, very busy. Met a family from Minneapolis and they were on a NP blitz as well. - Rainy Pass Trail Head for pictures and a talk with a thru hiker heading to Mexico solo. - Washington Pass Overlook, amazing views. - Winthrope WA, made a 3 mile detour for showers at Pearrgin State Park, found them on

Freepublicshowers.net then had lunch at the park. - passed through Chelan and made our way to Manson. Our Harvest Host was Chelan Valley Botanical on the shore of Lake Wapato. Owner , Seth visited with us for a while and we bought produce and skin products.We left and went back into Chelan and found a nice park for a picnic dinner, Willow Point Park. I also swam in Lake Chelan. Water was great, but it did take me 20 minutes or so to get used to the water! Stars here were great and also got to help ourselves to their Bing cherry tree. As much as we wanted. I think we had close to 6 pounds, fresh and tasty.