Sep 28 2024
Grizzly bears once occupied the North Cascades for thousands of years, moving through river valleys, berry-covered mountain slopes, avalanche chutes, subalpine meadows, and remote wilderness stretching across what is now Washington and British Columbia. By the twentieth century, however, decades of trapping, hunting, bounty programs, and other human pressures had reduced their numbers to the …
Sep 28 2024
North Cascades National Park protects some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the Pacific Northwest. Jagged peaks rise above deep forests, glaciers cling to high ridges, turquoise reservoirs fill narrow mountain valleys, and hundreds of miles of trails disappear into wilderness that remains surprisingly remote. Unlike parks where the biggest attractions sit directly beside …
Sep 28 2024
North Cascades National Park contains some of the most spectacular hiking terrain in Washington, with trails leading through old-growth forests, beside turquoise lakes, across subalpine meadows, and toward glaciers and jagged mountain passes. The scenery can feel surprisingly wild for a national park within a few hours of Seattle. The challenge is deciding where to …
Sep 26 2024
Mount Rainier National Park is best known for its enormous glacier-covered volcano, but the mountain is also the center of a remarkably diverse wildlife ecosystem. Black bears forage in forests and berry-filled meadows, elk move through valleys and open slopes, hoary marmots whistle from rocky meadows, and mountain goats navigate cliffs high above the park’s …
Sep 24 2024
Mount Rainier National Park contains hundreds of miles of hiking trails ranging from gentle forest walks to demanding alpine routes beneath glaciers and snowfields. Trails climb through wildflower meadows at Paradise, traverse rocky ridges above Sunrise, follow glacier-fed rivers through old-growth forest, and connect remote wilderness camps on the 93-mile Wonderland Trail. The enormous volcano …
Sep 24 2024
Mount Rainier National Park is one of the finest places in the Pacific Northwest to see summer wildflowers. Each year, as deep mountain snow finally retreats, subalpine meadows burst into color beneath the enormous glacier-covered volcano. Lupines, paintbrush, avalanche lilies, bistort, asters, monkeyflowers, and dozens of other species transform slopes that may have been buried …
Sep 24 2024
Mount Rainier National Park is filled with waterfalls created by one of the most water-rich mountain landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. Snowfields, glaciers, heavy winter snowfall, mountain streams, and steep volcanic terrain combine to send water cascading from cliffs and racing through forested gorges throughout the park. Some waterfalls are remarkably easy to reach. Christine …
Sep 24 2024
The Skyline Trail is one of the signature hikes in Mount Rainier National Park. Beginning at Paradise, the route climbs through famous wildflower meadows toward Panorama Point, where sweeping views extend across glaciers, valleys, and several of the great volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest. The trail is not particularly long, but it is steep enough …
Sep 21 2024
Mesa Verde National Park preserves one of the most extraordinary collections of ancestral Pueblo architecture in North America. Built into sandstone alcoves high above the canyon floors of southwestern Colorado, its cliff dwellings contain stone rooms, towers, plazas, storage chambers, and circular ceremonial spaces constructed by people whose communities flourished in the Mesa Verde region …
Sep 21 2024
Spruce Tree House is one of the best-preserved and most impressive cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. Built beneath a massive sandstone alcove on Chapin Mesa, the ancestral Pueblo village contains roughly 130 rooms and eight kivas, with sections rising several stories high. Archaeologists estimate that approximately 60 to 80 people may have lived …
