This park is the closest I have seen to the beauty of Alaska. The similarities are amazing in that the snow melt coming from the mountain runs fast and the water color is a grayish green like the silt running in the Alaskan rivers. The rivers here are full of Salmon like Alaska. The towns are small, they may have a diner and possibly a gas station. The food is good but mostly bar type stuff (hamburgers, milk shakes, chicken wings etc…). The towns are spaced 30+ miles apart with forest in between. Washington State Rt 20 runs directly though the Cascades. There is still snow a couple feet deep on some of the hiking trails at elevation.
While here we have hiked some of the trails. My favorite trail being Rainy Lake trail which is at 4800’ elevation. It still had up to 2’ of snow in some parts of the trail. Luckily we had carried our hiking poles, lunch, & other things with us.
Including Bear Spray as all the Trail Head signs in the park recommend you carry it. A Bear is not on my list of animals I want to see along a trail I am hiking on :-). I love to see them from the safety of a car!
Interesting that this park is only maybe 2 miles North of Seattle, yet its not that busy. Possibly due to the snow it gets or possibly because the park does not have a lot of accommodations to house week-long visitors on vacation. Even the campground accommodations remind me of places from the 1950s
Attached are some pictures from our visit to the Cascades:
Hi Kids, All I can say is Wow! The pictures look amazing. I can't imagine seeing snow on trails in the middle of July. Hiking poles and bear spray, we don't have them yet. You guys are good you always know what to pack. The Cascades look truly amazing! Keep on truckin, you both are lookin good!
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