North Cascades National Park is a hiker's park. At the high latitudes by the Canadian border, the timberline is low enough that the peaks in the parks have an Alpine appearance. The mountains in the park were carved out by glaciers in the last ice age, and further shaped by hydroelectric projects built on the Skagit river and damming of Lake Chelan. The casual visitor can drive through on Washington 20, stop at the viewpoints, and do some of the shorter hikes, especially Rainy Lake by Rainy Pass in the Forest Service land. Get up into the mountains, either by hiking up, driving up the Cascade Pass, or taking a water taxi shuttle to one of the remote lake villages, campgrounds, or trailheads on Ross Lake and Lake Chelan. Ross Lake NRA and Lake Chelan NRA are managed with North Cascades National Park as one unit, and many trails cross boundaries. Pets are allowed on many trails in the Ross Lake NRA and the Forest Service land, but not in the national park.
