United States
North Cascades
More glaciers than any park in the lower forty-eight, yet almost no one comes.
Glaciers spill from every ridge like frozen rivers caught mid-fall, their meltwater pooling in lakes so turquoise they look chemically altered. The valleys below disappear into old-growth forest dense enough to swallow sound. North Cascades National Park in Washington holds more glaciers than anywhere else in the lower forty-eight states — and almost no one comes to see them.
North Cascades contains over 300 individual glaciers across terrain ranging from sea level to nearly 9,000 feet. The park's backcountry sees fewer than 20,000 overnight visitors annually — a fraction of what neighbouring Cascade parks draw. Stehekin, a community at the head of Lake Chelan, is accessible only by boat, seaplane, or a 23-mile trail, with no road connection to the highway system. The North Cascades Scenic Highway, open only from mid-April to November, crosses the range through passes at 5,477 feet. Diablo Lake, held back by a hydroelectric dam, glows an unnatural glacial green from suspended rock flour — fine particles ground from bedrock by the glaciers above.
Solo
Permit competition here is a fraction of what you face at Rainier or Olympic. The solitude of North Cascades backcountry — glacier-fed lakes, alpine meadows, no crowds — is earned through effort but not through lottery.
Friends
Multi-day traverses through glacier country, boat access to a roadless community, and summit attempts on Cascade peaks offer the kind of shared physical challenge that bonds a group. Stehekin's wild blackberry pancakes waiting at the end don't hurt.
- The park holds more glaciers than any other area in the contiguous United States — 300 individual glaciers covering terrain from sea level to nearly 9,000 feet.
- Stehekin, a small community at the head of Lake Chelan, is accessible only by boat, seaplane, or a 23-mile trail — no road connects it to the highway system.
- The North Cascades Scenic Highway, open only from mid-April to November, crosses the range through passes at 5,477 feet above terrain that is otherwise impassable.
- The park's backcountry sees fewer than 20,000 overnight visitors annually — the same terrain as popular Cascade parks but with a fraction of the permit competition.
Wild blackberry pancakes at a lodge in Stehekin, reachable only by boat or floatplane.
Craft beer and elk burgers in the artsy mountain town of Winthrop.
Trail mix and glacier water — the only menu above the tree line.
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