North Cascades National Park
Washington
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
4.6 h fully dark
Hikes
Strenuous
🔴
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Entrance
Free entry
Road Closures - Cascade River Road
Cascade River Road is closed to vehicles at milepost 20 (Eldorado) two miles before the trailhead. Visit the Road Conditions page for more information on road closures within the park complex.
Official NPS alert →Campground Closure - Goodell Creek Campground
Goodell Creek Campground is closed until further notice due to bear activity.
Official NPS alert →Services Limited at Stehekin Landing
The park complex experienced severe weather events following flood damage in December 2025, causing unsafe conditions and limiting basic infrastructure in some areas. Operations at Stehekin Landing are limited.
Official NPS alert →Temporary Closures for Peregrine Nesting
The following established climbing management areas are closed to all public use from March 1, 2026 to July 15, 2026 to protect peregrine falcon nesting aeries: Newhalem Crag East and Newhalem Crag West (Ryan’s Wall).
Stehekin Flash Flood and Debris Flow Area
The Stehekin area is prone to flooding, which increases in a post-fire environment. Know before you go – visit the Post Fire Safety page for information on what to do in a flash flood and debris flow area
Official NPS alert →Hozomeen Gate Remains Closed
Until further notice, the gate at Hozomeen will remain closed; vehicle and foot traffic across the US/Canada border is prohibited. Visitors must enter through a designated port of entry.
Official NPS alert →Fire Closures - Trail, Area, and Camp Closures
For closures due to fire activity visit the Fire Closures page, including trail, area, and camp closures for current and post fire conditions.
Official NPS alert →Diablo Lake Boat Launch Inaccessible to Powerboats
Due to silt accumulation, the Diablo Lake boat launch at Colonial Creek South Campground is not usable for launching most powerboats. Expect shallow or no water at the launch ramp and the possibility of needing to carry your boat to or from the water.
Official NPS alert →Be Aware of Break-ins along State Route 20
Prevent smashed windows and theft. Break-ins are not uncommon at trailheads along State Route 20. Remove your valuables and electronics and take associated electronic cords.
Less than three hours from Seattle, an alpine landscape beckons. Discover communities of life adapted to moisture in the west and recurring fire in the east. Explore jagged peaks crowned by more than 300 glaciers. Listen to cascading waters in forested valleys. Witness a landscape sensitive to the Earth's changing climate. Help steward the ecological heart of the Cascades.
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
North Cascades National Park Service Complex is open year-round. The park operational season is late May-late September, with limited services outside the operational season. The North Cascades Visitor Center in Newhalem is open during the operational season, dates may vary annually.
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 3608547200
✉ noca_information@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 74°F
☀️ 74°/55°
☁️ 71°/58°
☁️ 73°/51°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
0%
Feb
0%
Mar
1%
Apr
6%
May
10%
Jun
25%
Jul
100%
Aug
74%
Sep
61%
Oct
16%
Nov
0%
Dec
0%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
🔴 Plan a Backcountry Trip
Fishing in the North Cascades · 4 mi
Day Hiking in North Cascades
Paddling in the North Cascades · 1.2 mi · 525 ft gain
Motorboating in the North Cascades
Rafting in the North Cascades · 9 mi
Campgrounds
Colonial Creek North Campground ↗ · 38 sites
Colonial Creek South Campground ↗ · 93 sites · dump station
Goodell Creek Campground ↗ · 19 sites
Gorge Lake Campground ↗ · 8 sites
Harlequin Campground ↗ · 7 sites · first-come
Hozomeen Campground · 75 sites · first-come
Lakeview Campground · 9 sites · first-come
Lower Goodell Group Campground ↗ · 2 sites · first-come
Newhalem Creek Campground ↗ · 107 sites · dump station
Purple Point Campground · 6 sites · first-come
Visitor centers
Forest Info Center with HQ Administration Building
Golden West Visitor Center
North Cascades Visitor Center
Wilderness Information Center
Accessibility
4 accessible campground(s)
15 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on North Cascades National Park — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
Trail profile
Each dot is a trail — distance vs. elevation gain, by difficulty.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
Passport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Forest Info Center with HQ Administration Building
🎫 Golden West Visitor Center
🎫 North Cascades Visitor Center
🎫 Wilderness Information Center
Places to see
Agnes Gorge Trail
audio
Bridge Creek (Pacific Crest) Trail
Buckner Orchard
audio
Cascade Pass Trail
Company Creek Trail
Diablo Lake Overlook
audio
Diablo Lake Trail
East Bank Trail
Easy Pass Trail
Fourth of July Pass Trail
Gorge Creek Falls
audio
Happy Panther Trail
Audio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
Wind-driven waves and abnormally high sea levels contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in flood and storm damage in the San Francisco Bay region, including Point Reyes National Seashore, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Pinnacles National Monument. In addition to California, the 1997–1998 El Niño and the following 1998–1999 La Niña severely impacted the Pacific Northwest, including many National Park System units.
Recipients of the 2014 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards
As we reflect on 2024, we offer you a list of 24 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From awe-inspiring celestial events to celebrating anniversaries and conservation wins, 2024 was filled with amazing moments.
A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Team was deployed to North Cascades National Park Service Complex after the 2023 Sourdough Fire. Learn more about some of the team members, Jack Oelfke and Cedar Drake, as well as what a BAER team does.
Eleven bat species occur in North Coast Cascades Network Parks. Each species is unique, except that they're all facing threats of some kind in their environments. Learn more about how scientists study bats and what you can do to help.
Trees shade us from the sun, provide homes for wildlife, stabilize Earth’s surface, and produce food for humans and animals alike. Some are massive, and others are miniscule by comparison, but what makes one better than the other—we’ll let you decide! Check out our iconic trees below and find your favorite!
Bees are some of the most abundant and important pollinators in the world – especially in mountainous environments. Despite the importance of bees in our natural environments, many national parks do not know what species live within their boundaries. In 2016, to celebrate the Centennial of the National Park Service, North Coast and Cascades national parks focused on inventories of pollinators, including bees.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funds enable whitebark pine recovery work at 10 national parks. In addition to identifying disease resistant trees and cultivating rust-resistant seedlings, increased staffing and expanded partnerships will also allow parks to collect and store seed during years when the pines produce massive amounts of seed during "mast" events.
How North Cascades National Park connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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Activity
Topic
State
Campground
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
Trail
ThingToDo
Alert
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Share activities & topics with North Cascades National Park.
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