Hiking is a bit like life:
the journey only requires you to put one foot
in front of the other ... again and again and again.
If you allow yourself opportunity to be present
throughout the entirety of the trek, you will witness
beauty every step of the way, not just at the summit.
Unknown
North Cascades National Park is a somewhat difficult national park to actually ''see'' up close. There is one road, the North Cascade Highway, that runs through it, but it only allows access to a small portion of the natural area that encompasses the national park. Because the park's lakes, forests, and mountains are almost entirely protected as ''wilderness'' area with very few back-country roads, the only way to see the majestic views up-close is to hike in. And that is just what we did!
We had read and heard from fellow travelers that the best hiking is located on the eastern border of the national park itself which was the direction that we were traveling from. After exploring the Lake Chelan area, we continued on the North Cascades Highway (Highway 20) through the cute town of Pateros (one of my favorite ''street'' campsites ever ... thanks to the river park on one side and bakery/pizzeria on the other) and headed towards the snow-capped mountains that make up North Cascades National Park.
We camped at KlipChuck, a national forest campground just outside of the park. During our sunset hike around the campground that evening, we saw our first hint of the rugged beauty of the Cascade Mountain wilderness that we were about to visit.
A few days earlier, I had read an article about the ''most scenic hike ever'' in the North Cascades written by a fellow traveler. The hike was actually not in the national park itself, but stated in the National Forest. With a little effort, it rewarded hikers with amazing close-up views of the mountains that make up North Cascades National Park. The Heather - Maple Pass Loop is a 7.2 mile moderate intensity hike with a 2000 foot elevation gain that starts and ends at Rainy Pass Trailhead. It promised amazing views with every step. Doug researched the hike and even with limited internet service, was able to find out information the old fashioned way ... by maps posted at the trailhead.
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| No complicated map needed, just follow that red circle around Lake Ann. |
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| Just in case this hike took longer than expected, this map points out where we could and couldn't camp out for the night ... not that we were bringing any camping gear! |
I was a little nervous starting out, having memories of the ''tougher than expected'' hike up to the top of Steamboat Rock fresh in my mind. But the trail was wide and seemed reasonably ''easy''. A few people that we talked to suggested doing the loop counter-clockwise, because the uphill climb at the beginning is a little more gentle with a steeper decent at the end. The author of the article also thought that the scenery was more spectacular going the counter-clockwise route. And with our first view of Lake Ann and the surrounding mountains, we had to agree!
Every step of the way, we witnessed more beauty ... it was one continuous WOW after another!
After 3.5 miles of climbing, we reached the halfway point. The ''summit'' at Maple Pass brought us to the boundary of North Cascades National Park and treated us to even more spectacular views.
As I gazed at the snow-capped mountains in the distance, I thought about one of my favorite quotes from the bible that I had shared recently with a friend who is going through some tough times:
''I lift my eyes to the mountains ... Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.''
Psalm 122:1-2
The ascent was difficult at times, but God rewarded us with the beauty that we witnessed with every step.
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| From the huge pine forests, |
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| ... to the delicate wildflowers, |
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| ... to the breathtaking mountain views, God's beauty surrounds us! |
After a peanut butter sandwich lunch (elegant views don't require elegant meals all the time) ... we started down the series of switch-backs that would lead us back to the trailhead.
On the way down, Doug would have to frequently wait for me to catch up to him. I'm sure that he was thinking, ''How slow can she go?? And how many pictures of wildflowers can she take???''
But he took quite a few of his own and had the added challenge of deciding which of the 100 or so photos we should keep ... it is hard to take a ''bad'' picture when surrounded by such beauty.
The afternoon sun was heating up and our legs were starting to feel the miles that they had moved. We were relieved at that point to look down at Rainy Lake on one side and Lake Ann on the other, because we knew that the Baby Beest couldn't be far away. As the trail brought us down into the pine forest where we had begun our hike four and a half hours earlier, I though about the life journey that we all are on.
While there are times when it seems hard ... especially during these difficult times of illness, separation, or pandemics ... we sometimes need to be reminded to just keep moving ... one step at a time...
... in order to see the beauty of the world that surrounds us
... and the love that is right next to us!
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