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North Cascades National Park Facts

North Cascades National Park Facts
North Cascades National Park is a 504,781 acre park located in the state of Washington in the United States. Together with Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, these three make up the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. The region has been continually inhabited by humans for as long as 10,000 years, and in the late 1700s, early 1800s, when European explorers arrived there were approximately 1,000 Skagits still in the region. In 1897 the region was protected as a Forest Reserve. It wasn't until 1968, after many years of debate regarding the park's establishment, that it was finally declared a national park by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Interesting North Cascades National Park Facts:
The first European explorer known to have arrived in the North Cascades was Alexander Ross, a Scottish employee of the Pacific Fur Company.
Alexander Ross was the first explorer to cross the North Cascade's peaks, while looking for a trade route.
North Cascades National Park is often referred to as the American Alps because the mountain peaks in the park are snow covered.
North Cascades National Park's tallest mountain is Good Mountain. It is 9,220 feet tall. Other tall mountains include Buckner Mountain (9,114 feet), Mount Logan (9,087 feet), Black Peak (8,970 feet), Boston Peak (8,894 feet), Eldorado Peak (8,868 feet), and Forbidden Peak (8,815 feet).
There are several peaks in the park named by the explorers who first encountered them. These include Mount Terror, Mount Challenger, Mount Fury, Mount Despair, Desolation Peak, and Mount Torment. Other landmark names that sound ominous include Ghost Peak, Phantom Peak, and Poltergeist Peak.
North Cascades National Park has more plant species within its boundaries than any other national park has recorded.
Because of the excellent soil and growth of plants, the trails in the park have to be cleared every year to maintain them for use.
There are more than 300 glaciers in North Cascades National Park. This is equal to one third of the glaciers found in the lower 48 states in the U.S.
There are also 500 lakes and ponds in total in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex.
There are an estimated 236,000 acres of old growth forest in North Cascades National Park. The biodiversity of the park, much like other areas of the country, is threatened by global warming.
Animals that can be found living in North Cascades National Park include black bears, Grizzly bears, mountain goats, wolves, wolverines, pikas, river otters, cougars, moose, coyotes, Canadian lynxes, marmots, and both bald eagles and golden eagles.
North Cascades National Park has at least 11 fish species and 200 bird species.
Backpackers and mountain climbers value North Cascades National Park because it does not have a lot of roads and this keeps visitor numbers down and maintains the wilderness. There are 386 miles of maintained trails in the park.
There are public campgrounds in the park that visitors can drive to, as well as more remote places for visitors to camp.
In 2013 there were 21,623 visitors to North Cascades National Park.


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