Wild and beautiful. Two great words to describe North Cascades National Park. The cascade mountain range is rugged and vast with peaks soaring over 8,000 feet and is surrounded by more than 300 glaciers. During our trip to the Pacific Northwest we spent a full day in the park and chose to hike the Thunder Knob and Blue Lake trails.
Thunder Knob Trail
Day parking at Colonial Campground fills early. We arrived at the Thunder Knob Trail head just after 8am to ensure we could get a spot and be first to trail. The hike is 3.6 miles round trip with just 425 feet in elevation change. Thunder Knob is an easy hike to do with kids.
From Colonial Creek campground, Thunder Knob trail crosses Colonial Creek via a bouncy footbridge. The trail then progresses through a series of gentle switchbacks until you reach the lookout. The lookout gives hikers amazing views of Diablo Lake as well as Colonial and Pyramid Peak.
Diablo Lake Overlook
After our hike at Thunder Knob we took a moment to eat lunch and rest at the Diablo Lake Overlook. The overlook is a popular place to take in the views of the lake and its emerald-colored waters. The lakes unique and wonderful green color occurs as the surrounding glaciers grind down the mountains. This grinding creates a silt that mountain streams carry to the lake below. The “rock flour” or silt floats in the water and reacts with the sunlight to give off a brilliant emerald hue. From the overlook, we continued to the eastern side of the park along Highway 20.
Blue Lake Trail
Our last hike in North Cascades National Park was to Blue Lake. Blue Lake is a deep glacial lake located at the eastern side of the park. At just over 4.4 miles round trip with about 1,000 feet of elevation gain, the hike took the majority of our afternoon. It was a bright and sunny day but most of the trail was in the forest and offered plenty of shade. The elevation change was gradual and not overly strenuous. Along the way, we were treated to great views of Whistler Mountain and Cutthroat Peak.
We we reached Blue Lake, we spent time having a snack and resting. We even tried venturing into the water. However, it was so incredibly cold none of us last for more than 2-3 minutes.
Our adventures in North Cascades were part of a larger trip to see all the national parks in Washington. Read more about our time at Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park as well as our stop over in Seattle.
Happy Adventuring, Rochelle