North Cascades National Park is the most underrated of the three national parks in Washington. While about 40,000 people visited North Cascades National Park last year, Mount Rainier and the Olympic National Parks received numbers in the millions. North Cascades being more remote than the other parks contributes to its low visitation numbers. Compared to the other parks, North Cascades greatly lacks lodging, campground options, and infrastructure. Furthermore, in the winter, visitor centers and several major roads close and don’t reopen until late spring or early summer.

While North Cascades National Park may be the least visited national park in Washington, don’t underestimate its beauty or assume it isn’t worth a trip. North Cascades is full of alpine lakes and meadows, towering mountains, glaciers, and dense forests. You have to hike to most of these sights, but it is well worth the effort. I had been saving this trip specifically for fall to capture golden larches and orange/red shrubbery, so we made our way up to North Cascades in early October.

My brother and I visited North Cascades for three days and hiked/saw Cutthroat Lake, Lake Ann, Rainy Lake, Diablo Lake, and Blue Lake. We stayed in the small town of Mazama at The Inn At Mazama, a short distance from most hikes in the park. Or hotel was less than 5 minutes from Mazama Public House, one of the only restaurants in town. We ate there a couple of times during our trip. It is on the more expensive side, but it is delicious. My favorite thing there was the poke bowl.

cutthroat

Cutthroat Lake

The first day of our trip we drove up to North Cascades and hiked to Cutthroat Lake. This hike is extremely easy with an elevation gain of 400ft over the course of 3.8 miles roundtrip. It was the perfect trail to start our trip with! For most of the hike you will wind through the forest until you reach the scenic area by the lake.

As you get closer to the lake, Hinkhouse and Cutthroat Peaks will tower over you in the distance. I could not believe the beautiful golden colors sprinkled all over. It was foggy too, which made Cutthroat Lake and its fall colors stand out even more. One of the first things that we saw once we reached the lake was someone fishing in a small inflatable raft. My brother had brought his own fishing pole, so he cast it out and caught a couple of cute tiny fish.

We spent about an hour and a half here exploring the shore along the lake. I also flew my drone around to capture the lake and surrounding mountains from above. This is one of my favorite hikes I’ve done in Washington. I could not believe how beautiful it was and fall colors definitely made it even more breathtaking.

lake ann

Lake Ann

On our second day we started out the morning by hiking to Lake Ann. We had planned to do the entire 7.2 mile Maple Pass Loop (one of the most popular hikes in Washington), but it was raining pretty heavily this day, so we decided not to. The hike to Lake Ann is another easy one with an elevation gain of 700 feet and a length of 3.4 miles roundtrip. As you make your way through the forest you will have views of fungi, surrounding mountains, and valleys.

After about 1.25 miles you will reach a junction in the trail. You can either continue left to Lake Ann, or continue upwards to hike the Maple Pass Loop. You could make a detour to Lake Ann on your way to the loop as this only adds about 1 mile to your trip.

Once we reached Lake Ann my brother busted out his fishing pole again. He wasn’t as lucky as he was at Cutthroat Lake and had no bites. This lake was lacking not only in fish, but also golden larches. Other surrounding fall colors more than made up for this.

The thing that I loved most about this lake was the small island near the back of it. It’s difficult to see in the pictures from my camera. But don’t you freight, I deployed my drone to get some shots of this adorable island from above.

On the way back to the parking lot, we hiked through an area that we had a different view of and didn’t notice before. On the way to Lake Ann I’d completely missed fall colors surrounding one of the hillsides because we were hiking through them on the way to the lake. But on the way back, we had a zoomed out view of stunning oranges and reds flowing down the entire hillside peeking at us through the trees. I took my time hiking back through this area, so long in fact that my brother hiked ahead of me and then turned around to come back for me.

rainy

Rainy Lake

Rainy Lake is accessible from the same parking lot as the one for Maple Pass Loop and Lake Ann. This is the easiest hike we did during our trip. The hike is only 2 miles roundtrip and is paved the entire way, making it wheelchair accessible. Rain had started to pick up by the time we got to Rainy Lake. Fog was hugging the Frisco Mountain Range making the area look mysterious.

Flying my drone at Rainy Lake was a little tricky because rain and fog interferes with the sensor that connects my drone to the remote. I wasn’t able to fly too far away because the connection would drop, but I was still able to get breathtaking shots of the fog enshrouded area.

Diablo

Diablo Lake

Diablo Lake is probably the most popular landmark in North Cascades National Park and is one of the more well known lakes in Washington. There are many trails surrounding the lake and we had intended to hike one, but after hiking two trails and with rainy conditions picking up even more, we decided against it. Instead, we drove around the lake on N Cascades Hwy to Diablo Dam. There are multiple places to stop along the highway for different vantage points of the lake. Our first stop was at the bridge near Colonial Creek South Campground. This area took my breath away. There was a HUGE foggy mountain (possibly Snowfield Peak) in the background of the bridge crossing over Diablo Lake. I had to stop to take some shots on my drone, of course.

After admiring this large mountain, we headed over to Diablo Dam where we crossed over the one lane road that goes along the top of the dam. This road is very short and ends at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center with a few trailheads scattered along the way. We didn’t get out of the car to explore, but I did fly my drone around the dam to see what the area looked like from above. After a day in the rain, we headed back to our hotel to dry off for the evening.

Blue lake

Blue Lake

On our third and final day we hiked to Blue Lake before heading home. This was my favorite hike during our trip because we were met with an unexpected surprise. As we were driving up to the trailhead we saw that the road was lightly dusted in fresh snow. The further into the mountains that we drove the snowier it got. Upon reaching the trailhead, we discovered that the snow wasn’t too deep and it was sunny out, so we decided to hike up to the lake even though neither of us were dressed for winter conditions. Fresh powdery snow combined with fall colors made for a truly magical hike that made me feel like we were in Narnia.

We only passed one other person on the way to Blue Lake, they were headed back down to the parking lot, and there was only one other vehicle parked at the trailhead when we arrived, so we knew we would have the entire lake to ourselves. Once we got to the lake it was hard to see where the trail continued because it was covered in snow, so we followed the single pair of footprints towards the right side of the lake. If I’d though that the snow made the hike more magical, it made the Blue Lake and its surroundings BEYOND magical.

After following the footprints to the right side of the lake, we were met with golden snow covered larches. The sun was angled above Blue Lake Peak just right causing the larches to glow in it’s light. We were in our own version of a winter wonderland. I took so many pictures at Blue Lake and had a hard time narrowing down which ones to share.

After spending about 20 minutes walking around the lake we started to get cold. I flew my drone for as long as my frosty fingers could bear before we decided to head back down the trail. The mountain range cast a shadow on most of the area when we got to Blue Lake, but the sun started to slowly raise in the sky on the way back down brightening the valley.

Remember when the fall colored hillside revealed itself on the way back from Lake Ann? We had a similar experience on the hike back from Blue Lake. The hike back provided a different angle of the surrounding mountain range, Liberty Bell and Early Winter Spires South, that I didn’t notice on the way up because we were facing away from them. These mountains were covered in snow peeking at us through the trees (nature loves peeking through trees). Snow created a defined contrast in the mountain’s rock face in sections where the powder didn’t have a surface to stick to. I was in awe walking through this area and had a hard time narrowing down which pictures to post from here too. As we got closer to the range the sun emphasized the tip of the mountains, creating a clear division between light and shadow.

As if our hike couldn’t get any more magical, the rising sun started to melt the snow. Melting drops created a shimmering effect within the shadowed forest near the beginning of the trail. The way the light was shining through the forest enhanced the droplets of melting snow. This is another place where my brother had hiked ahead of me because I was taking too long admiring my surroundings. I can’t say enough how beautiful and enchanting l this hike was. I truly felt like we were in a different world. It was one of my favorite hiking experiences I’ve had thus far.

Note for the reader: I share these locations so that others can see beautiful places and enjoy nature as much as I do. Please be respectful of the outdoors and what condition it is in when you visit. Don’t go off trail, leave no trace, and pack out what you came in with.