North Cascades National Park

When we left Papa and Grandma, the girls and I continued around the Cascade Loop. We stopped at the Rocky Reach Dam on the Columbia River north of Wenatchee and learned about the use of fish ladders to provide a route up the river for spawning salmon and trout, and we visited a museum inside the dam about the Columbia River. The girls also enjoyed a playground there provided by the public utility department--a really cool one that had a hand pedal trolley and a climbing wall with a rope.

We stayed overnight in Carlton, Washington in the Methow Valley. It's a tiny town, but we had a fantastic dinner at the only restaurant there: hamburger steak with mushrooms and onions, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables, real downhome cooking that tasted as good as anything I've ever had. We walked by the river and had a quiet night.

The next morning, we continued up the Methow Valley and onto the North Cascades Highway. This may be the most beautiful stretch of road I've ever been on. The mountains are steep and rugged, glaciers cover much of the high ground, and streams, waterfalls, and cascades run down between the peaks. Ross Lake, in the middle of the Cascades, is deep blue but nearby Diablo Lake is dark green.

We stayed at Newhalen Creek Campground near the North Cascades NP Visitor Center. There were a number of short nature trails near our camp, and we did the Ladder Creek Falls Trail, the Trail of the Cedars, and the River Loop Trail--all beautiful and the longest only a mile long. Gloria especially liked the rainbow that appeared over the bottom of Ladder Creek Falls.

Gloria became a junior ranger. We also attended Ranger Programs both nights we were at the park, and Gloria, as an official junior ranger, was asked to help out by counting the attendants and to answer a few special questions about the park. We had to drop back by the visitors center on our way out this morning so Gloria could say goodbye to her favorite park ranger.