Last week we spend 9 days driving the North Cascades Loop. We drove across the "American Alps" along Highway 20 into Eastern WA, and then back across Highway 2 to the Carnation gathering near Seattle.
The Northern Cascades National Park is relatively new, and so also contains several older hydroelectric projects maintained by Seattle City Light.
We spent three days on the west side of the mountains camping near Newhalem (a tiny town of Seattle City Light Employees).
We had planned to stay only two days on the west side of the pass, because the weather was supposed to turn on the third day.
But, the site was so beautiful that we stayed and extra day until the rain started.
Packing up in the rain is no fun. I vowed to never wait until the weather turns again...
(No, our cooler table leg wasn't short - I was letting the cooler drain.)
This was the view from our campsite.
You can see the rushing creek that had been dry the day before right as it joins the river.
This national park is unique because of juxtaposition of unspoiled wilderness and hydroelectric projects.
I have never seen waterfalls like this that thread thousands of feet down the mountains.
Perhaps our timing was just lucky, due to the cold spring and recent rainfall.
This is Ross Lake. On a sunny day it is an almost unnaturally vibrant blue.
According to geologists, the lake's outflow was reversed from north to south by glaciers in the last ice age.
The Northern Cascades National Park is relatively new, and so also contains several older hydroelectric projects maintained by Seattle City Light.
We spent three days on the west side of the mountains camping near Newhalem (a tiny town of Seattle City Light Employees).
We had planned to stay only two days on the west side of the pass, because the weather was supposed to turn on the third day.
But, the site was so beautiful that we stayed and extra day until the rain started.
Packing up in the rain is no fun. I vowed to never wait until the weather turns again...
(No, our cooler table leg wasn't short - I was letting the cooler drain.)
This was the view from our campsite.
You can see the rushing creek that had been dry the day before right as it joins the river.
This national park is unique because of juxtaposition of unspoiled wilderness and hydroelectric projects.
I have never seen waterfalls like this that thread thousands of feet down the mountains.
Perhaps our timing was just lucky, due to the cold spring and recent rainfall.
This is Ross Lake. On a sunny day it is an almost unnaturally vibrant blue.
According to geologists, the lake's outflow was reversed from north to south by glaciers in the last ice age.
