North cascadea narional park series#

Moisture blows in from Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The western part of the park differs markedly from the east. Those mountains eroded the Cascades you see today rose only five or six million years ago. About a hundred million years ago, the plate smashed into the North American continent, folding and crumpling into a mountain range as it lodged against the landmass.

North cascadea narional park series#

Over the eons a series of islands floated on their plate toward North America. A geological theory proposes that the mountains began as a micro-continent several hundred miles out in the Pacific Ocean. The range extends from British Columbia to northern California.

The region forms part of the Cascade Range, named for its innumerable waterfalls. But today the main road (through Ross Lake NRA) and easy access into the park-on some of its nearly 400 miles of trails-also allow more casual visitors to experience the peaceful forests and the drama of the mountains. 'A more difficult route to travel never fell to man's lot,' complained trapper Alexander Ross, who came here in 1814. The wildness and ruggedness of the park especially lure hikers, backpackers, and mountaineers. Mountain lions and bobcats, seldom seen, help keep other wildlife populations in balance. Mule deer and black-tailed deer graze the high meadows, where black bears gorge on berries and hoary marmots sunbathe. The park complex preserves virgin forests, fragile subalpine meadows, and hundreds of glaciers. The two other units-Ross Lake National Recreation Area and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area-contain most visitor facilities. The national park forms one unit of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. With glacier-clad peaks rising almost vertically from thickly forested valleys, the North Cascades are often called the American Alps. Size: 684,000 acres, includes two recreation areas