North Cascades far exceeds Glacier in number of glaciers with over 300 to Glacier's 25. It also has a major river running through it which has been used to make electricity for Seattle since 1924. The Skagit River (pronounced Skajit) has three dams on it for hydroelectric power. The dams were built upstream from where salmon need to go for spawning so they aren't damaging the salmon's habitat. One place where salmon could get into trouble by going up a tailrace at one of the dams has been engineered to keep them out and going in the right direction.
The Skagit River well below the three dams. This is excellent salmon territory.
Diablo Lake upriver from the Diablo Dam. The water is really this color, characteristic of glacial lakes. When glaciers melt their water grinds rocks to the point where the sediment becomes so fine it's called glacier flour or rock flour. The super-fine grains are suspended in water and absorb all the light rays except blue or blue-green which is reflected back, giving the water its teal or turquoise color.
The lower end of Ross Lake. It is just as turquoise as Diablo Lake but I couldn't get the color right in the picture.
Ross Lake in the background.
The visitor center has a good display with information about the park's flora and fauna. It also covers a lot about how logging was practiced here decades ago. It was a very dangerous occupation. The trees are gigantic....not as big as redwoods, but not far off. The two huge species of tree in the park are Douglas fir and western red cedar. Douglas fir lives for 700 to 1300 years and grows up to 385 feet tall with a 15 foot diameter. Western red cedar grows up to 200 feet tall with the record-setter (in Olympic National Park) having a diameter of 21 feet.
A few of the giant trees on the Trail of Cedars with Jim included for perspective. The gnarly-looking one on the right is a Douglas fir. The one on the left is western red cedar.
Jim's new friend. They were going to go berry picking together but at the rate grizzlies eat berries Jim didn't think he'd get any so he bowed out.
The visitor center had an interesting video done by a naturalist who has spent decades studying grizzlies. Most of the world's remaining grizzlies are in Alaska with the lower 48 states having only a tiny number. Grizzlies are so rarely seen in North Cascades no one is sure there are any left. Only two grizzlies have been verified in the past ten years and they were both just north of the border in the Canadian Cascades. Their habitat in North Cascades is so remote people rarely go there. While it's possible there are more in the park than anyone knows about, there's no doubt the numbers are very low. The Park Service and two other agencies are in the middle of a public planning process to see if restoring a healthy grizzly population to the park is possible.
We drove up North Cascades Highway (Hwy 20) as far as Washington Pass at 5,477'. The tall mountain to the right is Liberty Bell Mountain (7,740').
This section of the highway is closed from November to April so anyone wanting to travel from the east side to anywhere on the coast would have to travel many miles further. Winthrop to Mount Vernon (where we're staying) is about 139 miles over Washington Pass. The next available route to the south would be 248 miles.
Some of the many glaciers in the park.
What turns a snowfield into a glacier is when more snow falls in winter than melts in summer. The snow packs down and turns into ice which then starts slowly moving. Glacial ice melt is very important for the ecosystems in the mountains, providing water during all seasons which constantly feeds the rivers and streams. The ice also supports snow algae which is eaten by ice worms. These ice worms have been found to inhabit glaciers in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and British Columbia but nowhere else in the world. On just one glacier in North Cascades the ice worm population is estimated at over 7 billion.
The rugged beauty of this park is breath-taking. We are hard-pressed to choose between North Cascades and Glacier as our favorite. We're leaning towards North Cascades, however, because there aren't nearly as many people here plus it's a lot easier on the driver than the Going to the Sun Road.
The Picket Range, only a fraction of which is visible from the highway. It is a road-less and trail-less area. Inspiration Peak on the right is 1,000 feet higher than Pinnacle Peak (the "chopping block") on the left. Looking at it from where we were, it was hard to imagine there was such a difference between the two.
No more commentary......just pictures....
If it weren't 3,000 miles from home I'd come here every summer.
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ReplyDeleteWe went through North Cascades in 2013, between equipment failures. We agree on the toss up with Glacier as a favorite, but might lean towards Glacier because of the greater trail access. However, as Dr. Seuss would say, "Beautiful it is!".
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