North Cascades Trip Day 8, 9 & 10

Friday September 5 – We enjoyed a continental breakfast at the inn at Winthrop and got on the road, namely Route 20 or the North Cascades Highway.  The highway ascended the Methow River valley past vacation cabins and some flat irrigated ranch lands.  We passed the towns of Mazama and Early Winter.  The valley narrowed, the road got steep, and we entered canyon lands. 

Our first stop was Washington Pass Overlook, which had a very nice short trail looking down on the highway as it snaked upwards and a variety of impressive mountain peaks.  The range to the immediate south was particularly impressive – spiky, high, and bare.   The pass is at elevation 5,477 feet.

Early Winters Spires and Liberty Bell.

A photo of a photo in winter, on a clearer day than we had.

Note the North Cascades Highway

Ditto.

Some of the exposed rock at Washington Pass.

Striated rock.

Just a few miles further west and down, we next came to Rainy Pass.  It is at elevation 4855 feet and has several trails in the area.  It is also where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the highway and heads north to Canada.  We stopped for a hike along with lots of other folks.  We had to park on the highway verge and walk into the trailhead.  The trail is labeled Maple Pass Loop and is about 8 miles long but climbs over 2,000 feet vertically.  There is an alternate to Lake Ann which we opted to hike because the air was hot and hazy.  It was an out and back route (passing a rock fall where we heard and saw pikas) and we enjoyed sitting at the lake having a snack.  We could see up to Maple Pass and imagined seeing others who took the high route waving to us from there, (as the guidebooks suggested).  We are sure our friend Jan would have jumped at this opportunity to take the high ground.  

Panorama of a treeless cirque, with Betsy on the trail.

An American Pika

Ann Lake, with Maple Pass above in the center.

A guest at our lakeside snack break -- a Green Comma.

Just after starting back, we spotted huckleberry bushes loaded with berries.  We picked a bunch, nearly a cup, and enjoyed them on our breakfast granola the next day.  We returned to the trailhead and then walked to Rainey Lake, a 1-mile, out and back, ADA trail to a viewpoint beside the lake.  It is paved the entire way and there were many other tourists doing this hike.  Both lakes were set in glacial cirques, with forests on the near end and scree fields on the opposite shore.  The shores were lined with fallen logs which made it challenging to get into the water, tempting though it was on a hot day.  With both trails, we hiked 6.2 miles and climbed over 720 feet.

 

Huckleberry patch.

Rainey Lake

One of the things we learned on the Rainey Lake Nature Trail - "Snow Creep." It is where snow pushes and deforms the tree trunks.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving west to our campground at Baker Lake.  The route took us across the National Park, by way of Ross Lake, Diablo Lake and Dam, and Gorge Lake and Dam.  The highway is set on the cliffsides high above the reservoirs and there are only a few pullouts, and limited views of the lakes.  The surrounding mountains were obscured by haze.  

Most significantly, the road was all downhill, following Granite Creek, then Ruby Creek, past the reservoirs and onward next to the Skagit River.  At the small town of Concrete, we turned north, up the Baker River, ultimately arriving at Horseshoe Cove Campground on Baker Lake, at elevation 750 feet.  We are back into dense conifer forests, almost rain forest like.  The best scenery so far was on the dry eastern side of the range

We set up camp, oriented with a bike ride around the campground, then had dinner and retired for the night.  For a place that felt like the back of beyond, the camp was full with families who had come to play in the lake.  At least, there were no big RVs.

 

Saturday, September 6 – It was Baker River and Lake Day.  After our first night at Horseshoe Cove, we decided to stay local.  The Baker Campgrounds, as the US Forest Service campground are known, are spread out along Baker Lake.  The lake is actually one of two reservoirs created by Puget Sound Energy.  Baker Lake is the upper reservoir.  Our campsite was nicely secluded, but in a depression adjacent to thick vegetation, which we think led to some bothersome mosquitos.  Fortunately, they were not numerous, and their bites didn’t persist for long – the late season anti-coagulant they used was weak.

For the day’s hike, we drove to the end of Baker River Road, about 8 miles on gravel, passing many vehicles (cars and RVs) camped along the lake, probably fishers.  We hiked up the Baker River Trail to its end at Sulphide Camp – 3.1 miles (one way) and 300 verts.  We paralleled the pale green, rocky river northeast most of the way up.  The trail ended at a large bend in the river where it turned to the northwest and afforded a view of some glaciers clinging to Mt. Shuksan.  We sat in the river’s “outwash plain” with many round rocks and deer-gnawed shrubbery and had a snack.  It was hazy and smokey, so the view was obscured.  We retraced our route back to the car.

Baker River river plain.

In the land of the big trees, or would that be "Ents."

A tree growing on top of a boulder.

Ditto, two trees clinging to a boulder.

An unusual bridge -- three logs.

The end of the trail at Sulphide Camp

Mount Shuksan, 9,131 feet.

A partial view of the toe of Sulphide Glacier, south side of Mt. Shuksan.

Ditto.

Bridge over Baker River just at the head of the lake.

We crept out along the gravel road and drove to the south end of the lake to Upper Baker Dam.  We stopped several times for views of the surrounding peaks when they peeked out from between the tall trees.  Mammoth Mount Baker was closest to us on the west side.  Again, hazy conditions presented a challenge to photography.  We also walked a half-mile Shadow of the Sentinels Interpretive Site trail, a nature and accessible trail, celebrating tall, ancient trees (huge Doug firs and cedars).

Mount Baker, 10,781 feet.

Ditto, very hazy and smokey.

Upper Baker Dam (forebay).

Upper Baker Dam (spillway with powerhouse and tailrace below).

One of the tall sentinels, Douglas Fir (estimated at 680 years old and 7-foot diameter).

Sunday, September 7 – After our second night at Horseshoe Cove CG, we packed up our damp stuff for the move back east into the North Cascades NP to Newhalem, the National Park Visitor Center and the adjacent campground.  On the drive before arriving to Newhalem we made two short stops – first, to Concrete High School, which passes over a road like a bridge – Concrete HS is built on concrete (a poor visual pun); and second, to a coffee shop in Marblemount.  We arrived at the visitor center around noon.  Since there were light showers in the morning and  more rain was threatened, we drove first to our campsite.  It was vacant, so we off-loaded our bikes and erected our tent ”in the dry.”  (As it happened, aside from sprinkles, the day got drier.)

 

We then began our day’s sightseeing.  First stop was the visitor center for a 20-minute movie about the NP, displays of the natural history of the park, and a few souvenirs – I bought two more small park prints to add to our collection at the Sisters house and Betsy picked out a book on mushrooms and fungi, to supplement the photos I have been taking.  Our second stop was at Gorge Lake Overlook. Gorge Lake is the lowest of three reservoirs created by Seattle City Light (SCL) for hydroelectric power generation on the Skagit River which flows south from British Columbia, Canada.  This overlook afforded a view of Gorge Creek from a high bridge and a ¾ mile-long loop trail.  We continued our exploration of mosses, fungi and lichen.

Gorge Creek.

Our third stop was to the uppermost of the three reservoirs, Ross Dam and Lake Overlook.  This is most famous of the dams, which we knew about since working in the hydroelectric industry.  Its impoundment is 24 miles long and just crosses the Canadian border.  The only vehicle access is via SCL utility roads and in Canada, though the border has been closed. for several years.  We hiked down from the Cascade Highway about a mile to the dam deck.  A most impressive sight!  We walked across the “curved, thin-arched” dam.  We continued from the dam about 1 ½ miles to the Ross Lake Resort, a series of floating, self-catering cabins on the north bank of the lake.  The trail climbed up and then dropped to the resort.   We were grumpy with the thought of having to climb back out when retracing our steps to the dam.  Turns out, the resort was very welcoming, had a small store for snacks, lots of rental boats, etc. for fishers, and most importantly, a ferry transfer across the lake to a landing site, about ½ mile from the trail back to our car.  The ferry, actually a fast outboard motorboat with twin 200 hp motors, whisked us across the lake in about 8 seconds.  We climbed to the trail at the dam and then up to the car, completing 3.6 miles and 650 verts.

Ross Dam and Lake.

Approaching the Ross Dam deck.

A monumental dam, spillway left center.

Powerhouse inlet structure.

Unknown Peaks.

Note the waterfall on the right.

Coming into Ross Lake Resort.

Leaving the Resort.

The 8 second ride.

The "ferry" returns home.

Our last stop was at Diablo Dam and Lake Overlook.  This reservoir is the one in the middle between Gorge and Ross Lakes.  It has an astonishing green tint to the water and, like Ross, has very limited road access.  In fact, to get one’s luggage and food to the Ross Lake Resort, you leave your car at Diablo Dam, take a ferry ride up Diablo Lake, board a truck that drives up the utility road to the Ross Lake Ferry landing, and then shoot across Ross Lake.  (The term “ferry” in this context suggests something more deliberate and stately than these madcap motorboat rides.)

 

Diablo Lake and Dam (center back).

Note the water color.

Ditto.

Colonial Peak, 7,771 feet.

Pyramid Peak, 7,182 feet.