We had an early flight from Fresno that arrived in Seattle around 8:15am. We picked up the rental car, bought a cooler, stocked up on breakfast/lunch food, and were on our way to North Cascades National Park by 10:30am. It was a 2.5 hour drive from Seattle to the national park. Our first stop in the park was, of course, the visitor center where we got the park map, bought a park magnet, and got the details on the road construction on Highway 20 that traverses the national park. Next, in Newhalem, we had a picnic lunch before enjoying the Trail of Cedars - a short, self-guided nature trail that highlights a variety of native plants and trees. From there, we walked along a service road to connect to the Ladder Creek Falls trail located behind the Gorge Powerhouse. We even took a quick peek into the Gorge Powerhouse.
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| The Skagit River |
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Ladder Creek Falls
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| The inside view of the Gorge Powerhouse |
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| The outside view of the Gorge Powerhouse |
Back in the car, we headed off to see the much-anticipated Diablo Lake. I have seen many photos of the striking aquamarine water and couldn't wait to see it in person. Our first sight of the lake was a bit disappointing as the water did not have the aquamarine hue probably because of the overcast day. Also, there was lots of dust hanging in the air from all of the road construction along Highway 20. Fortunately, once we arrived at the Diablo Lake Overlook, the color of the lake was much more vibrant.
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| Diablo Lake didn't look very aquamarine colored from this vantage point! |
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| The Diablo Lake Overlook |
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| More Diablo Lake |
By now it was getting late in the afternoon, and we needed to drive through the rest of the park to get to Winthrop, the cute little western themed town to the east of North Cascades NP where we'd be staying for 2 nights at a VRBO cabin. Driving was very slow through the road construction, but we eventually made it to Winthrop where we checked into our cabin and then enjoyed dinner at the town's Mexican restaurant.
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| The cute little cabin we rented at the River's Edge Resort in Winthrop |
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