North Cascades National Park

North Cascades National Park
IUCN Category Ib (Wilderness Area)
Location	Whatcom, Skagit, and Chelan counties, Washington, USA
Nearest city	BellinghamNearest city: Bellingham
Coordinates	48°42′0″N 121°12′0″W / 48.7°N 121.2°W / 48.7; -121.2Coordinates: 48°42′0″N 121°12′0″W / 48.7°N 121.2°W / 48.7; -121.2
Area	684,000 acres (1,069 sq mi)
Established	October 2, 1968 Established: October 2, 1968
Visitors	19,534 (in 2007)
Governing body	National Park Service

North Cascades National Park is a U.S. National Park located in the state of Washington.

The park complex consists of 684,000 acres (1,069 sq mi) of the Cascade Range in four separate, yet adjoined, units: North Cascades National Park North Unit, North Cascades National Park South Unit, the Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas which are managed together with the park. Several national wilderness areas and British Columbia parkland also adjoin the National Park. The park features rugged mountain peaks. Approximately 93 percent of the park was designated as wilderness in the Washington Parks Wilderness Act of 1988, which also set aside wilderness areas in Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park.

Natural history

Glaciers

Looking toward Magic Mountain from Sahale Arm north of Cascade Pass. Yawning Glacier has retreated significantly since 1980.

In 1971, the park had 318 glaciers with an area of 117 km² (Post et al., 1971), the most of any US park outside Alaska. All the glaciers in the park have retreated significantly from 1980-2005 and the rate is increasing. The recent warmer climate has led to more summer melting and more winter melting events, reducing winter snowpack. Several glaciers in the range have melted away in the last decade.^[1] Boston Glacier, on the north slope of Boston Peak, is the largest glacier in the park with an area of 7 km². The other large glaciers (with areas greater than 2.5 km²) are:

Lower Curtis Glacier in 2003 compared with 1985

• Redoubt (Mount Redoubt)
• Nooksack (Mount Shuksan)
• Sulphide (Mount Shuksan)
• Challenger (Mount Challenger)
• Inspiration (Eldorado Peak)
• McAllister (Eldorado Peak)
• Neve (Snowfield Peak)

Wildlife

This park is noted for its wildlife. Due to its wilderness nature, it is home to wolves, lynx, moose, wolverines, and many other rare and/or endangered species. Few grizzly sightings have been confirmed by park staff, though black bears are common. There are a gamut of mammals, avafauna, amphibians and reptiles. As a notable amphibian example, within the Rough-skinned Newt Cascade Mountains populations, approximately ninety percent of the adult population is perennibranchiate.^[2]

Plants

Extreme variation, in rock and soil types, exposure, slope, elevation, and rainfall is reflected in the diverse plant life here. Eight distinctive life zones support thousands of different plant species in the North Cascades greater ecosystem. No other US National Park surpasses North Cascades National Park in the number of plant species recorded. Over 1,630 vascular plant species have been identified, and estimates of non-vascular and fungal species could more than double this number for total plant species in the North Cascades.^[3]. The park contains an estimated 236,000 acres (960 km²) of old-growth forests.^[4]

Geography

The Thornton Lakes fill glacier-carved basins near Mount Triumph

Attractions

Nearly all of the national park is protected as the Stephen Mather Wilderness, so there are few maintained buildings and roads within the North and South units of the Park. The park is most popular with backpackers and mountain climbers. One of the most popular destinations in the park is Cascade Pass, which was used as a travel route by Native Americans. It can be accessed by a four-mile (6 km) trail at the end of a gravel road. The North and South Picket Ranges, Mount Triumph, as well as Eldorado Peak and the surrounding mountains, are popular with climbers due to glaciation and technical rock. Mount Shuksan, in the northwest corner of the park, is one of the most photographed mountains in the country and the second highest peak in the park 9,127 ft/2,782 m.

Another interesting way to experience the park is by boat or floatplane up Lake Chelan to Stehekin. Boating, including canoeing and kayaking, as well as fishing and backcountry camping are popular on Ross Lake.

map of the North Cascades National Park complex

Access

Although one gravel road open to the public enters the park, most automobile traffic in the region travels on the North Cascades Highway (Washington State Route 20), which passes through the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. The nearest large town on the west side of the park is Sedro-Woolley, Washington, while Winthrop lies to the east. Chelan is located at the southeastern end of Lake Chelan.

See also

• Skagit Valley Provincial Park
• Mount Baker Wilderness
• Glacier Peak Wilderness
• Pasayten Wilderness
• Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness
• Retreat of glaciers since 1850
• North Cascades

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Park Service.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: North Cascades National Park

• Official site: North Cascades National Park
• Education: North Cascades Institute
• Guide to North Cascades National Park on Compassmonkey.com
• Glacier Research: North Cascade Glacier Climate Project reports

v • d • e National parks of the United States Acadia • American Samoa • Arches • Badlands • Big Bend • Biscayne • Black Canyon of the Gunnison • Bryce Canyon • Canyonlands • Capitol Reef • Carlsbad Caverns • Channel Islands • Congaree • Crater Lake • Cuyahoga Valley • Death Valley • Denali • Dry Tortugas • Everglades • Gates of the Arctic • Glacier • Glacier Bay • Grand Canyon • Grand Teton • Great Basin • Great Sand Dunes • Great Smoky Mountains • Guadalupe Mountains • Haleakalā • Hawaiʻi Volcanoes • Hot Springs • Isle Royale • Joshua Tree • Katmai • Kenai Fjords • Kings Canyon • Kobuk Valley • Lake Clark • Lassen Volcanic • Mammoth Cave • Mesa Verde • Mount Rainier • North Cascades • Olympic • Petrified Forest • Redwood • Rocky Mountain • Saguaro • Sequoia • Shenandoah • Theodore Roosevelt • Virgin Islands • Voyageurs • Wind Cave • Wrangell-St. Elias • Yellowstone • Yosemite • Zion                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     List by: date established, state, elevation