Two Days in the North Cascades National Park, Washington Itinerary- The North Cascades is considered one of the least visited National Parks in the US. It’s hidden beauty is worth seeing, the hard part is planning an itinerary and finding places to stay in this area of Washington. The North Casacades is an easy location to see a lot on a long or short weekend visit for 3 or 4 days. With this schedule for 2 days in the North Cascades you will get to see some beautiful blue lakes, go on some small hikes, see some scenic overlooks and more. Here is my itinerary for 2 days in the North Cascades for spring, summer or fall.

This itinerary is best for someone with a personal car, rental car, or do what we did and rent a campervan from Campervan North America. You really can’t visit this area with public transportation or many tours. I would suggest being open to camping, as it cuts down on your daily drive time. But getting an AirBnB (use this link for $55 off your first stay) or looking at booking.com you can find places to go, I listed some great options in this article below.

Overview

Where To Stay

How To Get There

What To Bring

Where To Stay

There are very limited options of where to stay in the North Cascades National Park area. You do have a few types of options listed here:

Camping

We stayed at Colonial Creek Campground for two nights, make sure to book ahead of time as it is often sold out. We spent our third night in the western town of Winthrop at Pine Near RV Park.

Resort Stay

Ross Lake Resort has small cabins along the lake. But it is often sold out almost a year in advance. This does look like an awesome place to stay and relax, but plan far very far in advance if wanting to use this location.

In Town

Another option of a place to stay if not camping would be in Winthrop. This park is hard to explore if not camping but complete do-able, you just have to make long drives in the morning and/or evening. From Winthrop to Diablo (your farthest point from Winthrop) your longest drive would be about 65 miles.

If planning to visit the North Cascades National Park be sure to check out The Best AirBnB Rentals for the North Cascades all these cabins look so cozy!

Booking.com

How To Get There

Drive From Seattle

On the way into the park we stopped at the Visitors Center at North Cascades. Here we took in some information on hikes for the next day, history of the park and even took the Sterling Munro Trail a short 300 feet boardwalk stroll to the Pickett Range Viewpoint. This could be easily skipped if tight on time.

We stayed at Colonial Creek Campground, make sure to book ahead of time as it is often sold out.

What To Bring

Check out my post on What To Pack For Washington State in the Summer.

Day 1:

Diablo Lake and Hikes

ThunderKnob

Thunder Knob Trail is a mild 3.6 mile round trip trail right off of the Colonial Creek Campground. The trailhead has a parking lot, but the campground entrance is right across the street, so we walked from our campsite. We choose this as it was short and brought you to some overlook views of mountains and the blue Diablo Lake. This trail takes you on the other side of the lake, from the main car park viewpoint.

Ross Lake Overlook

Another main viewpoint off the main road is called the Ross Lake Overlook. This overlook is just down the road from the Diablo Lake Vista Point, a 6 minute drive. So we headed there first then turned around to go back to Diablo Lake Overlook.

Diablo Lake Overlook

This viewpoint is probably the most famous and widely visited in the North Cascades National Park. And there’s a reason why. Just right off the parking lot there is many viewpoints to stare at this majestic blue lake. We actually went as sunset the night before, and before lunch on this day.

Thunder Creek Trail

After lunch at our campsite we walked to the next trail connected inside the campground, Thunder Creek Trail. This trail is actually a 12 mile round trip hike but we only went a few miles to a bridge crossing the Thunder Creek. I liked cutting down the the creek bed to watch and listen to the water.

Visit The Beach

After our hike we took our camping chairs down to the lake to enjoyed reading a book, hearing the sounds of the lake and even stuck our feet in the water to heal from our hikes. Then headed back to our site to cook dinner.

Stay at: Colonial Creek Campground again or Winthrop.

Booking.com

Optional Things To Do:

Ross Lake Resort visit– hike 1 mile hike to the boat ramp, py $3 for a boat ride. Explore this resort and rent canoe for $45.

Spend most of the day on a longer scenic trail, I would suggest the Sourdough Mountain Hike.

Day 2:

Lakes, Washington Pass and Winthrop

Rainy Lake

We did this route a little backwards, we drove past Rainy Lake to hike the Blue Lake first. We did this so we were not hiking the longer hike in the heat, and to get a parking spot at Blue Lake as it is more limited. They are only a 4 minute drive apart so we didn’t have to back track too much.

Rainy Lake Hike is 2 miles round trip. Most of this path is paved, so it is suitable to any type of traveler. But will bring you to another gorgeous view of a blue lake with a mountain backdrop.

Blue Lake

This might have been one of my favorite hikes in all of Washington, and as a plus one the shorter hikes as well! The Blue Lake Hike is a 4.5 mile round trip hike near the Washington Pass. The hike will bring you through the woods, into fields and eventually to a clear blue mountain lake. My favorite scene, clear blue lakes with snow dusted mountains as the back drops. Read all about this hike on my post The Blue Lake Hike in Washington State.

Washington Pass

A short 2 minute drive from Blue Lake next up is Washington Pass. Washington Pass is a must see, and can be a pretty short stop along this route. I loved how every changing this state can be. The colors of reds, oranges, greens and blue skies makes this overlook breathtaking.

Winthrop

From here we headed to our final destination for the night, Winthrop. Winthrop is the cutest little Western inspired town. We ate and had some craft beers at the Old SchoolHouse Brewery. I loved this quaint little spot so much.