Cascade River Road

I saw this really neat drive in Northwest Travel September/October Edition, " A Day Trip to North Cascades National Park."  Cascade River Road Starts in Marblemount, Washington just off of State Route 20 and ends at a parking lot for the trail head for the Cascade Pass Trail in North Cascades National Park . After reading the article, I had been pressuring my husband to take us. Especially when I realized how close it was too us.  So if you live in Skagit or Whatcom County you've got to go on this drive. When we found out the weather was going to be great ,70's, we headed to the mountains. It was a stunning drive. The road starts out paved (first 12 miles) and the rest is a primitive road, gravel.  It is quite narrow in some places.  However, there are plenty of pull outs but I was really relieved the Giant Man Child was driving. There were lots of little waterfalls along the way that cascade down the side of the mountain.

The view is awesome

It ends in the world's most beautiful parking lot according to some geocachers and in our case the word's most full parking lot.

Due to the full lot, we didn't get to see the waterfall at the Cascade Pass Trail head. The view of the hanging glaciers are amazing. We had no idea this was so popular as we encountered so few cars on the way up. Our plan to eat lunch here was crushed so we headed down and found a spot along the river. Doesn't everything taste better in the mountain air.

We found a geocache near the Mineral River Camping Ground. We tried on the way up with no luck but we found it on the way down using our  keen and highly trained geocaching sense. There are quite a few on the way and in the parking lot as well. but we only really looked for this one. I highly recommend this ride. This reminds me of the Sunday Drives that my parents are famous for.