North Cascades National Park

Welcome to the North Cascades National Park. This area is very green and beautiful. I have driven all over. This is a backpacker’s paradise. There were several pictures that I wanted to capture but due to my limited hiking ability I couldn’t get to where I wanted to go. There are no roads into the National Park. You must park and carry your equipment on your back. I did manage to get to Baker Lake but couldn’t get the image that I wanted. I wanted to get a reflection of Mt. Baker, but the road only goes up the northwest side of the lake and to get the reflection I had to be on the southeast side. It was about a 10-mile hike one way to get there and then I would have to get back. As I drove around it is very evident why this area is called the American Alps. There are high snowcapped peaks with green forests about halfway up the side of the mountain. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of remnants of a fire that occurred in 2015. That seems to be the story all over the western states. It’s a shame but most were started by natural causes. There are many campgrounds here and it seems like all of them are at a trail head. If I was in my 30’s or 40’s this would be a fantastic park to visit but I feel like I have missed so much just because I can’t get to where I want to go. There is supposed to be a lot of wildlife here, but I think that most of the wildlife has made their way back to the upper reaches of the park for the summer months where they aren’t bothered by humans. I left the west side of the North Cascades and over Stevens Pass to the eastern side of the North Cascades. I stopped in Leavenworth WA which is a touristy village that looks like a Bavarian village in Germany.