Seattle Day 7

This was the coolest National park sign we have seen.

Today we hit the last national park in Washington. It was an hour drive into North Cascades, and for once, we didn't arrive that early. This park was quite a bit different than the last two, because it is a drive through park. We never passed a gate or showed our pass at all. Instead, we drove along Highway 20 stopping for hikes and overlooks.

Our first stop was at the Visitor Center for Junior Ranger books. We let the kids buy a souvenir, and picked up some patches for their books. Then we drove down the road to check out the dam.

The drive through North Cascades was beautiful.

North Cascades has two large dams. The Gorge Dam is unique because it holds back emerald green glacier water. In fact, all the water we saw today was a really bright shade of green. We did a short walk to the overlooks for the dam and gorge. Then we saw the waterfall from the bridge. 

There wasn't been a lot of wildlife in this national park, either. We kept expecting to see some cool animals, but the trees are so thick, and even on the trails we didn't see much.

The water here was so green because of the glaciers.

This waterfall is so tall!

Up the road we did a hike called Thunder Creek. It was a short, flat hike that led to a large bridge that crossed that jade green water. It was really pretty, and the boys enjoyed playing pooh sticks.

We stopped at the overlook of Diablo Lake. The water is turquoise and looks totally fake in all the pictures. We loved it and spent a few minutes taking photos and enjoying the views.

We did another hike called Rainy Lake. This one led us down to a pretty little lake at the foot of the Cascades. You could see massive rivulets streaming down from the glaciers to feed the crystal clear lake.

The forests in Washington are so green and mossy. 

We liked hiking along the river.

Mark looks so grown up in all these pictures.

Mom gave up on her hair. Dad looks great, though.

We had a lot of picnics.

Seth has to go inside every open tree.

Seth's souvenir was this owl and it looks pretty cute in this picture.

The color of water here in North Cascades is gorgeous.

This park was so pretty!

Not sure what is happening here...

This tree was determined to grow.

Rainy lake was crystal clear.

Such a pretty color, too.

The mountains over there are in North Cascades National Park. We are standing just outside of it.

Seth took our picture.

And he snapped one of Mom and Dad, too!

Then we drove all the way out to the Washington Pass Overlook. This is beyond the end of the park, but there are towering yellow mountains all around. Mark searched the cliffs for goats, but we still didn't see any. 

The mountains are very majestic here.

The overlook was amazing!

It was getting late, but there was one more waterfall trail we wanted to try. This one was only 1.2 miles each way, and we didn't know too much about it. It was called the Happy Creek Trail, so it sounded very nice. As we hiked, we realized that it was incredibly steep. In fact, Mom's phone told us that it gained nearly 1,000 vertical feet over that 1.2 miles! Worse, when we made it to the falls, they were mediocre at best. Somehow, the boys took this in good spirit. They were excited when we spotted some wildlife cameras, but we were the only wildlife. 

Walking around the Happy Creek Nature Trail was nice. We should have stuck to this little loop.

All that this trail did was climb straight up.

We were exhausted!

Seth did find a tree to ride.

And we did make it to the falls.

By the time we got back and checked into the hotel, we decided to eat up some of the food we had left. We microwaved some soup and some had cereal. Then we went next door and ate pie, fries, and shakes. The fries were handcut and perfect. The shakes were even better. And the strawberry cream pie was top notch! Somehow it made that last trail worth it!

Seth ordered an italian soda.

Mark was all about the fries.

Dax loved his Oreo shake!