Getting To Know North Cascades
Place: North Cascades National Park
State: Washgington
Closest Cities: Seattle, Washington
Time of Year: July 2025
How we got there: Plane/Road Trip
Getting to know North Cascades National Park is easier said than done and since we only had 3 days to do it we had to pack in a lot. This trip was part of a week long adventure with my brother Marc and his wife Stephanie. The first half of the week was spent in Olympic National Park and you can read about that here: https://dawntillduskaz.com/obsessed-with-olympic-national-park/. To really get know know North Cascades, you need to hike! Although this park has a nice scenic drive with lookout points and photo opts, you need to get a little dirty on the trails to get to the great stuff! We did a little of both!
Early in July we made the 5.5 hour drive from Olympic National Park, more specifically The Hoh Rainforest, to the town of Marblemount, WA which would become our homebase for the next 3 days. We were not sure what the town of Marblemount had to offer, so on the way we stopped in a town called Concrete, WA to load up on groceries at the local Safeway. Next stop, Marblemount! We rented this cute house in a gated forest community complete with a river that runs through it! We had to register at the gate so they could look for us in case of a forest fire and we used a generator to power the house!
Normally, we would have tackled our big hike right away on the first day however this being early July, I found that the hikes I had in mind had accessibility issues and I had to revise our itinerary. Instead, we decided to get to know the park by driving the scenic highway State Route 20 aka North Cascades Highway, stopping at the scenic overlooks and warming up with a couple of shorter hikes. First stop was of course the national park sign!
Then a stop at the visitor’s center where we picked up our map, verified hike choices and took our first overlook pictures!
Today we would be visiting the 44 mile section of State Route 20 between Marblemount and Washington Pass Overlook. The map below does not show all the way to Washington Pass as that area is outside the park.
Our next stop is not to be missed in my opinion! Ladder Creek Falls in Newhalem is a little 1/2 mile trail behind the Gorge Powerhouse which includes a suspension bridge, exotic wildflowers, and a “box canyon” type waterfall and river. What a gorgeous place to spend an hour strolling around the gardens and learning about the Powerhouse!
The first hike of the day would be Thunder Knob which starts in a campground right before Diablo Lake. This 3.6 mile round trip hike has very little elevation gain and is a great warm up for the day. You start by crossing a ghostly white river over a bridge before heading into the mossy green forest. The first overlook gives you a view of Colonial Peak and some distant glaciers.
Just under 2 miles and you are overlooking Diablo Lake with its stunning gatorade blue colored water!
The other side of the viewpoint was even better!
We decided to pass up our next trailhead to first visit Washington Pass which is a lookout point at the very edge of North Cascades then double back 1 mile to start our 2nd hike of the day. Washington Pass is a must stop overlook with a small scenic trail and gorgeous views! I especially liked the poems displayed on the fence which gave us time to stop and reflect on the moment and feel grateful to be in such a beautiful place.
About a mile West of Washington Pass was the trailhead for our next hike Blue Lake. This would be a 5 mile out and back with 1100 ft of elevation. Since it was late in the day the lighting was good and the mountains across from the lake were still covered in patches of ice and snow.
While relaxing on a rock enjoying the view, I noticed a lonely mountain goat climbing down toward the lake!
We couldn’t stay long because the bugs started to take over and chase us away. If you do this hike keep that in mind! No one likes mosquitoes! This would conclude our first day in the park. We needed to get some food and we found several restaurant choices in Marblemount. I’ll share a little on that later in this post!
Day 2
Our main focus on day 2 way the Maple Pass Loop Trail. This hike is just outside North Cascades on the border of the park. We used the Rainy Lake Trailhead as a starting point going counter-clockwise toward Heather Pass to Maple Pass trail. Right away we started a moderate uphill climb.
The trail starts on an incline up and within the first mile we came to the detour down to Lake Ann. We decided to pass this up as we would get some good views of Lake Ann from above without dealing with the mosquitos!
Before long we were at the intersection of Maple Pass & Heather Pass. Staying on Maple Pass Trail we left the woods behind as the mountain opened up to the ridge trail.
We were really starting to climb now! There were several switchbacks and streams flowing across the trail as well as a curious marmot!
The higher we went the the better the views became! In fact, we had 360 degree views all around. The effort we spent getting up here deserved a little lunch break!
After a quick lunch, we hiked the last several hundred feet of elevation and we started to come across snow.
This was my favorite view with the “American Alps”!
We gained 2200 feet before we started down the mountain. This was a loop trail which I love because there is no backtracking involved! The trail was wide open so we really got to see the switchbacks that would bring us down!
All in all this was a 7.5 mile trail with 2200 feet elevation gain, gaining all 2200 feet in the first 4 miles. We were really hoping to do the Cascade Pass to Sahale Arm Trail but do to road closures we couldn’t reach the trailhead. Maple Pass Loop is definitely an awesome alternative! So if you want to keep the miles at a minimum but still want the alpine lakes, wildflowers, snowy peaks and wildlife try this trail!
With tired legs and hungry bellies, we stopped off at a “must see” (according to the park ranger) boardwalk trail with waterfall. We were promised a short walk to a waterfall that felt so cool blowing across your skin like air conditioning but what we got was a short walk on a boardwalk to a dry dusty trail that went straight up through the trees climbing 700 feet. You talk about steep! We were also not prepared as we were wearing our recovery shoes and brought no water! Feeling like we were “almost there” we just kept going! My white recovery shoes were now brown and this so called Happy Creek was not feeling so happy!
Don’t get me wrong! This is a great trail and is so beautiful! Just know that the boardwalk area is short and to reach the waterfall you need hiking shoes, water and an understanding that this is steep! Its no fun when you told your hiking buddies that this would be a quick stop and everyone was hangry!
Another recommendation from the park ranger was to drive over the Ross Dam which we did without getting out of the car! Thats the dam in the distance! It was pretty cool to drive over it!
Finally feeling that we have checked off everything on our North Cascades wishlist, we made our way back to Marblemount for dinner. We had dinner in town 2 nights and our last night we ate at Upriver Grill & Taproom. Apparently, Bigfoot eats here too!
We enjoyed our beer & pizza on the back patio overlooking the garden. Such a nice atmosphere to relax and be silly after a long day of hiking!
The last day took us back to Seattle where we would stay overnight close to the airport for our early morning flight home. But first we just couldn’t leave the area until we visited the 3 remaining Thomas Dambo Trolls! Because the trolls are so special, I am going to do a separate post all about them and I will share that link here when finished!
Overall, we loved North Cascades National Park! I cannot stress enough that if you really want to get to know North Cascades, you must get on the trails! I hope you too will take the time to get to know North Cascades! Please remember to visit responsibly and leave no trace.
