Going to North Cascades National Park

What to do in North Cascades National Park

Desolation Peak, Mount Fury, Jagged Ridge, Mount Terror—the names on the map strongly hint at the character of the North Cascades National Park Complex. This is the largest and most rugged alpine wilderness in the contiguous United States, with scores of 8,000-foot peaks, upwards of 400 glaciers, virgin Douglas fir and Western red cedar forests, and wildlife that includes gray wolves and grizzlies.

You have to really want it to dig your way in to the heart of this wilderness. One lone road, the North Cascades Highway, crosses the spine of the Cascades in the hundred-mile stretch from Canada to U.S. 2, and it's open only from May to November. Aside from this highway, entry into this country is a matter of long, slow drives down abysmal forest-service roads, circuitous detours, ferry rides, and even floatplane...

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