We're heading to the North Cascades National Park (in central Washington State just below the Canadian border) for some hiking and relaxation. We drive east from Seattle on I-90 through the Snoqualmie Pass (where we stop for a hike to Snow Lake and back - next blog), then continue through the mountains and up the eastern side toward Winthrop. Along the way, we stop in a few Washington state parks, starting at Lincoln Rock State Park on the Columbia River.
Lincoln Rock State Park
The Columbia River starts in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flowing northwest and then south into Washington, before turning west to form most the border between Washington and Oregon. The river flows 1,243 miles (2,000 km) before emptying into the Pacific Ocean, with the drainage basin for the river extending into seven states and one Canadian province. This is the fourth-largest river in the United States, with the greatest flow of any river into the eastern Pacific. The Columbia River has provided transportation since ancient times and now provides hydroelectric power, supports many species of fish that migrate between the Pacific and freshwater sources, and farming in the river basin accounts for 1/3 of the total agricultural production of Washington (in order of volume: apples, potatoes, hay, wheat, onions).
Leaving the park, we follow the river for an hour or two, travelling through desolate hills and lush agricultural fields.
Hills alongthe river
Crops
Further along the river, we stop at Daroga State Park, which offers day use and camping along 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the shoreline on the elevated edge of the desert scablands (a relatively barren and soil-free region of dry flood channels that remained after cataclysmic floods from glaciers 14,000 to 20,000 years ago).
Daroga State Park
We continue to follow the Columbia River for about another hour, then turn to west to approach the Northern Cascades (the northernmost parts of which are only accessible from Canada).
