Part two of this adventure moves back over to the mainland to experience some stunning hikes in North Cascades National Park.
First afternoon in the park led to typical entrance sign pictures and an absolute banger of a first image. Diablo Lake at sunset just stuns. Nothing describes the mountains, sun rays, and teal of the water quite like experiencing it for the first time.
The first big hike was Heather/Maple Pass. Views were stunning and they just kept getting better and better. Lunch was at the “top” – about 6800 feet up. This trail had a ton of bees, when it was quiet you could hear the buzzing as general background noise.
Maple Pass didn’t take as long as expected, so after I returned to the car and headed down the road to Washington Pass. Words can’t describe the sheer scale of this pass.
The second large hike, and an all-time great, was Cascade Pass to Sahale Arm. This hike switches back through the forest, dumps you out in a pass with sweeping vistas, and then sends you up a mountain arm to see Sahale Glacier. There were backcountry campsites at the Glacier – I can’t imagine how stunning it would be to wake up there.
Cascade pass ended up at 12.5 miles and 4000ft of elevation, which is my largest elevation gain/loss in a single day.
The final day of the trip took me up to Mt. Baker (my second volcano) and Mt. Shuksan. This might just be my favorite image from the entire trip. I was waiting around for these people to leave and decided to take a picture as they walked by. The spacing was perfect.
Ben There Shot That 