{"id":2159,"date":"2018-11-25T06:08:02","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T06:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/10.10.10.205\/?p=2159"},"modified":"2018-11-25T06:08:02","modified_gmt":"2018-11-25T06:08:02","slug":"return-to-the-cascades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sswcmw.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/25\/return-to-the-cascades\/","title":{"rendered":"Return to the Cascades"},"content":{"rendered":"

We wanted to take advantage of some nice weather today to return to the North Cascades National Park. \u00a0They will be closing parts of the Cascade Highway as the snow comes in, so we wanted to get to a couple of places before that happens.<\/p>\n

Our first stop was a Bald Eagle Natural Area. \u00a0This area is supposed to be the winter spot for a large Bald Eagle population due to the spawning salmon. \u00a0We did not see any at this spot, but they said the numbers don\u2019t really pick up until December. \u00a0However, there were a couple of places along our drive to the park that we were able to see some bald eagles.<\/p>\n

One perched in the tree<\/p>\n

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Further up the road we saw a group of them hanging out in the creek. \u00a0We pulled over and got out, but they are super skittish and some flew away.<\/p>\n

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We continued our drive into the park. \u00a0The beautiful weather allowed for views that we did not get the last time we were there.<\/p>\n

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Diablo Lake<\/p>\n

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We pulled into an overlook to enjoy the view while we had our lunch and then continued up the road to see if the road was closed at all. \u00a0There was an easy hike that I wanted to do that would take us to Rainy Lake.<\/p>\n

As the altitude increased, we began to see snow! \u00a0It was beautiful. \u00a0It made Scott nervous because there were some bad spots on the road.<\/p>\n

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We finally made it to our trail head. \u00a0We had to bundle up a bit for the hike because we couldn\u2019t make it to the parking lot with the car and it looked like we would have to go through quite a bit of snow. \u00a0YAY!<\/p>\n

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This was the road that you would normally drive down to the parking lot.<\/p>\n

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Here is the trail that we headed down. \u00a0There was easily 8 inches of snow for most of the way. \u00a0Some places had as much as 12 inches.<\/p>\n

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1 mile in we made it to Rainy Lake! \u00a0It was frozen over. \u00a0It was beautiful. \u00a0While we were enjoying the view, we heard what sounded like a herd of animals running towards us. \u00a0Turns out, snow makes a lot of noise when huge clumps are falling through the trees!<\/p>\n

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These pics were on our way out.<\/p>\n

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Walking through such thick snow for two miles was quite the workout. \u00a0But it was fun and totally worth it. \u00a0So glad I was prepared with our hats and gloves! \u00a0Also glad that we were able to see this before the road to it is closed for the winter.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We wanted to take advantage of some nice weather today to return to the North Cascades National Park. \u00a0They will be closing parts of the Cascade Highway as the snow comes in, so we wanted to get to a couple of places before that happens. Our first stop was a Bald Eagle Natural Area. \u00a0This area is supposed to be…<\/p>\n

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