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The ride today started at Marblemount, Washington to Ross Lake in the North Cascades National Park. The North Cascades became a National Park in 1968 and is sometimes referred to as the North Americas Alps. I have been to many National parks across the great USA but I cannot believe the beauty we saw today. It is a whole different perspective when you are riding your bike through the park. You can see things that you would probably miss if you were driving and as Barry said today βIt makes you feel like part of the park.β I agree. Our heads were reeling around looking from right to left at the vistas, the waterfalls and the emerald colored lakes. Every turn there was a waterfall with snow melt from the massive mountains. Today Phil took the lead and stopped at nearly every one of the million waterfalls along the way for pictures. However, I did not mind as I needed a break and I wanted a picture too! He did tell us after passing two huge waterfalls βI want it to be known that I passed those last two falls without stopping.β We rode 34.9 miles, gained 2,772 feet in elevation,
Kevin's Bear
Visitor Center North Cascades National Park average speed was 10.8 mph, maximum grade was 12%, ascent time was 2 hours and 28 minutes and descent time was 44 minutes. We stopped a lot to rest and got back on the bikes for another 100 yards or so before our next rest. We did ride through two tunnels which was quite fun. There was a beautiful gorge carved out by the Gorge Creek featuring the Gorge Creek falls dropping 242 feet. There is excellent viewing with a pedestrian walkway on the bridge spanning the gorge. Kevin was driving back and forth making sure we were okay and encouraging us. He made sure we had snacks and water. Gale and Margaret were also in another car driving back and forth for support and encouragement (We needed a lot today). We spent some time at the Diablo Lake and Dam overlook. The Lake itself is a magnificent color of emerald caused from the glacier run off. It is a big lake hugged by snow-capped mountains on all sides. Ross Lake is just a few miles from Diablo and is equally as beautiful. The climbs were tough today and I thought how am I going to make it up the
pass tomorrow but little by little I will ride Washington Pass. Kevin took some great pictures of us climbing up to Diablo Lake. I smiled for the camera but my inside face was not smiling at that time J All the Visitor Centers are closed here and we could not get our National Park Passport Books stamped which was a bummer but maybe we can visit this park again. Kevin drove into the Visitor Center while we were riding and saw a bear. It was the first wildlife viewing we had in the park. We rode 35 miles into the park and our spouses picked us up at a pull out and brought us back the 35 miles to Marblemount. During this drive back Kevin and I saw another bear on the side of road. We will start from where we left off today and ride to Winthrop Washington tomorrow.
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Jan
non-member comment
Awesome!
You are doing great and what views!