North Cascades suggestions wanted
 

My wife and I will be escaping the heat of the deep south in August. We plan to arrive in Seattle on a Mon & depart Sat. We want to see the North Cascades but don't see a resort in the area. Considering the Salish inn for two nights & then drive the North Cascades loop. We plan to be back in Seattle on Friday but do not know where to stay Wed and Thu. We enjoy day hikes and relaxing among scenic views. Something like Lake Quinault Lodge would be nice. We're concerned that avg high for Aug in Mazama in 81. Any help would be appreciated.

Only walked around the Lake Quinault Lodge but it was beautiful and a great jumping off point for more exploring of the Olympic Peninsula area, etc.

And 81 degrees is really nice - especially when there is no humidity. :)

The North Cascades don't offer a lot of tourist stuff, but the loop is a great drive. Your Salish Inn plan sounds good. In Olympic NP there are some nice trails in the Hurricane Ridge area and neat Lake Crescent.

Maybe I'm reading wrong here. You are going to just North Cascades or Olympic too?

I'm going to North Cascades in August myself. I plan on hiking Cascade Pass and if I have enough energy left on to Sahale Arm as well.

Ross Lake and Lake Chelan both have lodges. You might look at those.

Sorry for the confusion, spirobulldog. We went to Lake Quinault two years ago and would like something comparable in North Cascades.

Hi,

Arriving in <b>Seattle</b> on a Monday and departing <I>Seattle</i> on the following Saturday doesn't exactly give you grand amounts of time to make a leisurely passage of the North Cascades.

You might consider, say, plotting your first night (Monday) up in the Mount Vernon/Sedro Woolley area of WA (after 75 miles/75 minutes in light traffic, from the airport), and then getting an early start for a complete passage of the North Cascades.

Maaaaaaaaaybe then Tuesday night and Weds night in the quaint little town of Winthrop, WA (137 miles from Mount Vernon).

THEN decide whether you wish to return on the same path you took, OR whether you want to go south from Winthrop toward Wenatchee and/or Leavenworth... and maybe even farther south toward Yakima, and then west on Hwy #12 over White Pass, for a close-up circuit of Mount Rainier.

Hope you leave time for a bit more of Seattle before your trip away.

<i>We went to Lake Quinault two years ago and would like something comparable in North Cascades.</i>

IMO there really isn't anything comparable in NCNP. The park isn't as old as Olympic NP, and was really developed - or, rather, not developed - with an eye to preserving the greatest amount possible of its native condition. Grand lodges like Quinault or Paradise on Mt. Rainier weren't really part of the plan.

Now that said, you might consider coming at NCNP from another direction, as it were.

From Seattle you can cross Stevens pass on US 2 (which is very scenic on its own) and then turn north on US 97 to the town of Chelan. Chelan is at the south end of Lake Chelan, which is a very narrow, very long fjord-like lake that extends from the sagebrush country around Chelan deep into the North Cascades. Part way up the lake is the little village of Stehekin, accessed by a passenger ferry from Chelan, the Lady of the Lake. http://www.ladyofthelake.com/

There's a variety of lodging in Stehekin, all of it quite rustic, but the lake itself, and the surrounding mountains and waterfalls are quite something.

In August it won't be as cool as Olympic NP or some of the higher elevations in other national parks, but it will be very pleasant, and will give you exposure to a part of the state not seen all that often by out-of-state visitors.

If you come at the right time in August, you could also visit nearby Omak, home of the Stampede, one of the great rodeos of the American west. http://www.omakstampede.org/