0:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Read image of God, or fourth finger pointed straight at me, through halos and rolls and both bowls of life existence of the gleaming spirit in his right hand would say it. 0:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Come on boy, go down across the ground, go on for man, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on alone, go roll your bones alone, go down be a little beneath my sight, 0:29 [SPEAKER_00]: That was American legend and professional deranged raccantour, Jack Carrewack, sitting atop desolation peak in North Cascades National Park Complex. 0:49 [SPEAKER_00]: After he wrote on the road, but before it was published, Carrewack spent a summer here 0:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Among other things, Kerawak was known for his moody, angsty prowess, his summer on a mountain top called desolation peak, predictably resulted in a long barrage of cheerful reflections like my father dead, my mother far away, assisted my wife far away, nothing here with my own tragic hands that once were dotted by a world of sweet attention, 1:26 [SPEAKER_01]: But now I left the guide and disappeared their own way into the common dark of all our deaths. 1:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Sleeping in the raw bed alone and stupid, with just this one pride and consolation, my heart broke in the general despair, and opened up inwards to the Lord. 1:44 [SPEAKER_01]: I made a supplication in this dream. 1:48 [SPEAKER_00]: But to be fair to Jack, there is something about these massive, isolated mountains, along the Washington Canadian border that makes you feel small. 1:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Visiting these parks you simply run out of adjectives. 2:01 [SPEAKER_00]: My mind keeps reaching further word epic, but it's so overused that I know it just won't communicate what I want it to. 2:09 [SPEAKER_00]: If you spin enough time up there, you won't have to be an alcoholic beat poet to start rambling. 2:17 [SPEAKER_01]: And tonight the stars will be out and don't you know that God has pooped there? 2:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Evening stars must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth. 2:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Darkens all the rivers, cups of peaks, foes the final shore in, nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the 2:45 [SPEAKER_00]: big ancient places like the North Cascades have a way of reminding us how temporary and fragile our lives really are. 2:52 [SPEAKER_00]: They help us locate ourselves on a grander scale, and that's part of the value of the national park system. 3:00 [SPEAKER_00]: When we return to our quote, normal lives, we hopefully do so with more context, insight, and even compassion for those who share our strange and often 3:13 [SPEAKER_02]: picture of me in the cover of on the road results from the fact that I had just gotten down from a high mountain where I'd been for two months completely alone. 3:20 [SPEAKER_02]: And usually I was in the habit of combing my hair, of course, because you have to get rides in a high way and all that. 3:25 [SPEAKER_02]: Usually one girl's to look at you as though you were a man, not a wild beast. 3:28 [SPEAKER_02]: But who knows my God, but that the universe is not one vast sea of compassion, actually. 3:35 [SPEAKER_02]: The verdable holy honey. 3:37 [SPEAKER_02]: We need to always show personality and cruelty. 3:41 [SPEAKER_02]: The fact who knows, but that it isn't the solitude of the oneness of the essence of everything. 3:44 [SPEAKER_02]: Hama, the solitude of the actual oneness of the unbornness of the unborn essence of everything. 3:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Hama, nay, the true pure foreverhood. 3:56 [SPEAKER_02]: That big blank potential that can ray forth anything it wants from its pure store, 4:09 [SPEAKER_00]: My team learned about the North Cascades after research and carolach at the beat museum in San Francisco. 4:16 [SPEAKER_00]: We drove to Washington three days later and it was as big and breathtaking as the poet had suggested. 4:22 [SPEAKER_00]: But it was also a little bit confusing and it's layout relative to other parks. 4:27 [SPEAKER_00]: So I reached out to Jim for some basic orientation. 4:31 [SPEAKER_03]: People hear about North Cascades National Park and perhaps they're not familiar with it. 4:39 [SPEAKER_03]: And the world of national parks, in fact, it was established until 1958, and the name can be a little confusing if you start looking at information about the park, because North Cascades National Park is part of what's called officially the North Cascades complex. 5:09 [SPEAKER_03]: and all three of those units. 5:11 [SPEAKER_03]: basically merged together into ready one barjerry or reason of the idea was it would just all be one giant park and there's a lot of technical and political reasons five they haven't divided it up like this but for planning purposes all to visitors it doesn't really matter. 5:25 [SPEAKER_03]: So I've mentioned that distinct case someone's looking at a map and they see the lake shellander or the rock snake and wonder if that makes any difference in terms of what you're doing, if is it it doesn't. 5:34 [SPEAKER_03]: So while we're talking about it I'm just going to refer 5:41 [SPEAKER_03]: And then really, no matter what you call it, it's a magnificent place. 5:45 [SPEAKER_03]: For many years, fans of the area that we're talking about and trying to promote it referred to it as the North American Alps, and I think that's probably pretty valid, just to say there's some of the steepest mountains in North America, relative to the height compared to the vertical impact. 6:04 [SPEAKER_03]: Somebody joked and said, the park has got a certain number of acres, but if you 6:08 [SPEAKER_03]: That's because it's standing on end if you lay it out flat, it'd be three times bigger than it is otherwise, but it's got a lot of vertical terrain. 6:15 [SPEAKER_03]: It's got over 300 glaciers, the most glaciers in the United States anywhere outside of Alaska. 6:22 [SPEAKER_03]: There's really three general kinds of visits. 6:26 [SPEAKER_03]: You can make to the North Cascades. 6:28 [SPEAKER_03]: The first is a great scenic drive across the central part of the park. 6:33 [SPEAKER_03]: And you can easily do that in a day or even let us ask what most people do when they come to this park. 6:38 [SPEAKER_03]: If you rush through though, if you try to just dive through, you miss some great short hikes that are really easy enough for people to enjoy. 6:46 [SPEAKER_03]: But that's one way to see the park. 6:49 [SPEAKER_03]: You just get it through on the scenic drive this second. 6:52 [SPEAKER_03]: is a visit down to the Lake Shalani area of the park, which almost everybody does about boat. 6:58 [SPEAKER_03]: And it's a possible sample of that area of the park in a day. 7:01 [SPEAKER_03]: Also, although some people want to go in, it's been several nights, that's the possible doing some great lodging there. 7:07 [SPEAKER_03]: And the third way to see the park is to get it at the backcountry, this is really an excellent park for some serious mountain nearing or for backpackers. 7:17 [SPEAKER_03]: And so we're talking about that in a bit, but I thought we'd focus first on the scenic drive because that's what most people do. 7:24 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a highly called state route 20 that runs east and west runs right through the middle of the park. 7:32 [SPEAKER_03]: It's a beautiful drive. 7:33 [SPEAKER_03]: The elevation varies quite a bit. 7:35 [SPEAKER_03]: It's started about 500 feet on the west side of the park. 7:39 [SPEAKER_03]: If you go all the way through the park and keep going a little further, you get to 5,400 feet at the Washington Pass, the high point of the road. 7:46 [SPEAKER_03]: And so a lot of variety 7:49 [SPEAKER_03]: Not 20, there's enough is the longest highway in St. Washington, and runs all across the state from West East, not very far below the Canadian border. 8:00 [SPEAKER_03]: It's only about a two or three hour drive from Seattle. 8:04 [SPEAKER_03]: And so it's a great place for people to go on the weekend. 8:06 [SPEAKER_03]: And that's maybe one tip if you're planning a trip and you're coming from some distance. 8:11 [SPEAKER_03]: If you can manage to be there on a weekday, rather than a weekend, it won't be as busy right there. 8:17 [SPEAKER_03]: But the one thing to keep in mind, people say, well, close to Seattle, a couple of hours, what does buzz up there in November or March to have a little get away? 8:27 [SPEAKER_03]: Comes back to one of my favorite tips, which is always to be sure you have good information about a park and check the park website for any tips or information about what's going on. 8:38 [SPEAKER_03]: And that's certainly important at Northcast Cays. 8:41 [SPEAKER_03]: because that scene drive is not open during the winter time. 8:45 [SPEAKER_03]: We'll talk a little more about that in depth in just a minute, but in terms of... 8:49 [SPEAKER_03]: So on the park website, almost every park sometime over the course of year two, there is going to be some kind of major road construction going on or something to be damaged to by a storm. 9:01 [SPEAKER_03]: The Yellowstone floods, they've had their and June of this year are a good example. 9:08 [SPEAKER_03]: So check the website, look for what's called alerts on the homepage and that'll give you a heads up, this thing important going on. 9:17 [SPEAKER_03]: In 2022, the scenic road route 20, a portion of it outside the park had some major flood damage last year. 9:27 [SPEAKER_03]: And so traffic is down just one lane at a time when one stretch of the road and they're working to try to get that all repaired this year. 9:35 [SPEAKER_03]: But that means there's going to be some pretty significant delays there if you're driving at this year. 9:40 [SPEAKER_03]: So one thing, just to keep in mind, it may be something different. 9:43 [SPEAKER_03]: Actually, the park is also doing a lot of work along that road, a lot of paving is going on and something campground is going to be closed for a week at a time. 9:51 [SPEAKER_03]: Some of the scenic pull outs, you're going to not be available. 9:54 [SPEAKER_03]: So just a good idea to check before you go and be sure you're not surprised. 9:59 [SPEAKER_03]: Now, talked about the winter, they're on route 20. 10:03 [SPEAKER_03]: And just want to be sure, if you're going to make a trip that the road is open, 10:07 [SPEAKER_03]: is the highway gets up into those mountainous parts of the trip. 10:12 [SPEAKER_03]: One site says they have perhaps as many avalanches on that stretch road as any highway in the country. 10:19 [SPEAKER_03]: And so as a result, they figured it's going to lose the battle of trying to keep it open and it's not very safe to do that anyway. 10:25 [SPEAKER_03]: And so that entire stretch of Route 23, the park is only open from about May through mid-November. 10:35 [SPEAKER_03]: Over the dates, very from year to year. 10:36 [SPEAKER_03]: Some years, it's open to April. 10:38 [SPEAKER_03]: Some years not until the 1st of June. 10:41 [SPEAKER_03]: I just depends on those on the snow conditions for that year. 10:44 [SPEAKER_03]: So again, check before you make the trip and make sure what's going on. 10:54 [SPEAKER_03]: Backcountry hiker just want to stroll on one of the short trails, the lower elevation trails are in great shape usually by May. 11:01 [SPEAKER_03]: You get up to some of the higher elevations the park, some of those trails are not so free until June, maybe even the first to July. 11:09 [SPEAKER_03]: So again, you want to do your homework before you go so that you won't get there and find out something that is not possible. 11:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Because of our confusion on our way into the park, we did a fair amount of driving before we found our way. 11:21 [SPEAKER_00]: But if there's any place you might not regret being lost for a little bit, especially from the safety of your car, it's a national park. 11:29 [SPEAKER_00]: We didn't always know what we were looking at, but it was always captivating. 11:39 [SPEAKER_03]: There are a lot of places people like to stop and look at along that drive through the park. 11:44 [SPEAKER_03]: I thought I mentioned maybe just a few highlights of somebody that's going to try to just get through and hit some of the high points. 11:49 [SPEAKER_03]: If you're 11:51 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, say you're coming in from the Seattle area going for West to East to the park, not too long after coming to the park. 11:57 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a little small community called New Hailum and the Park Visitor Center is there and if you stop there always encourage people to stop at the Park Visitor Center pick up a map because they don't count on a cell signal for your app on the phone to the GPS and ask them about updates on the trails on that kind of thing, but why you're there? 12:19 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a real bonus, even if the Vista Center is not open. 12:23 [SPEAKER_03]: The shortest, triggling the park. 12:25 [SPEAKER_03]: So only a 330 feet long starts there near the Vista Center. 12:29 [SPEAKER_03]: It's called this Sterling Monroe Boardwalk. 12:33 [SPEAKER_03]: But you've got some great rewards for almost zero effort if you walk all the way to the end 330 feet the end of that trail then there's a great view of the picket mountains There in the park and if you bring a pair of binoculars it's the only place you can see a glacier actually from From the paved road how we 20 again 300 glaciers in the park but you got high to see most of them 12:58 [SPEAKER_03]: But if you're on this trail there about the visitor center, bring your binoculars and you can see it. 13:02 [SPEAKER_03]: You might also spot some mountain goats when the mountain's there from the end of that little short trail. 13:07 [SPEAKER_03]: So there's a bonus for stopping at the visitor center, take that little short hike. 13:10 [SPEAKER_03]: And there are also half a dozen other really easy short hikes. 13:14 [SPEAKER_03]: You can take right there in the visitor area. 13:18 [SPEAKER_03]: Now if you continue on the drive on route 20 from the visitor center, 13:23 [SPEAKER_03]: You notice, you make that trip you've come to three dams on the Skagit River, and you might think that's kind of when you usually have all these dams built in an astronaut park and that's because they were there a long time before the park was established. 13:38 [SPEAKER_03]: They're all built to provide hydroelectric power. 13:42 [SPEAKER_03]: And in fact, I understand about 20% of the electricity used by Seattle City Light, their main utility comes from these three dams on the Skagit River. 13:51 [SPEAKER_03]: So you'll see those as you drive along. 13:53 [SPEAKER_03]: The first one you come to going from West East is the Gorge Dam. 13:58 [SPEAKER_03]: And there's a pull out there. 13:59 [SPEAKER_03]: If you stop there's an easy half mile leak trail, goes to a really nice waterfall, 242 feet high. 14:07 [SPEAKER_03]: So if you want a leg stretcher, that's a good place to stop. 14:10 [SPEAKER_03]: And if you continue on then, you're stored on Route 124 or another four miles. 14:15 [SPEAKER_03]: You'll come to the second dam, it's called Diablo, Diabelo. 14:22 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a pull-out there, but some of the travel experts from that part of the country say, rather than stop there at the dam, keep going for about another five miles. 14:32 [SPEAKER_03]: And you'll get to a pull-out there. 14:34 [SPEAKER_03]: They have these mile-post markers on the edge of the road with a number. 14:37 [SPEAKER_03]: If you get to about just past mile, one, thirty-one. 14:41 [SPEAKER_03]: If the Diablo lake overlook, one writer from the Seattle Times says, if you're going to go to make one stop on the entire drive around 20, 120, make it at Diablo Lake. 14:53 [SPEAKER_03]: It's if you look at a lot of reviews, you see must stop and stunning and don't miss and those kind of aged is, so that certainly a place you want to include on your trip if you can. 15:04 [SPEAKER_03]: And one of the 15:06 [SPEAKER_03]: attractions of that spot, one of the unusual features is you have a gorgeous view of mountains all around this beautiful lake. 15:13 [SPEAKER_03]: The people kind of about the color, particularly there during the summer of July, August, September, it's a real distinct turquoise blue, rather unusual. 15:23 [SPEAKER_03]: And that's because it's a glacial fad. 15:28 [SPEAKER_03]: When the glaciers are grinding the way down the mountains and 15:32 [SPEAKER_03]: grind it up all the rock and particles and then when you get the runoff in the place spring, early summer. 15:37 [SPEAKER_03]: All those tiny particles of washed down in the water, it's called glacial flower is the geologist term for it. 15:44 [SPEAKER_03]: So basically, it's this very finely suspended sediment in the water, but it causes the sunlight then to be refracted when it hits the water and it gives us this turquoise color. 15:55 [SPEAKER_03]: You'll see that in some other lakes all around the world that are located below glaciers and that's always the same reason, that they're pretty neat color. 16:03 [SPEAKER_03]: But it makes a great spot to stop 16:07 [SPEAKER_03]: Now, you can find a couple more overlooks there in the park along the route 20 hit at East. 16:14 [SPEAKER_03]: And eventually, you'll come to the park boundary, and my advice there is, if you've got a little more time, maybe another hour. 16:21 [SPEAKER_03]: So, just because you're losing the park, doesn't mean that the scenery stops right there at the boundary. 16:27 [SPEAKER_03]: And you go on on to some US Forest Service land. 16:30 [SPEAKER_03]: And if you keep going, really, some of the best views on the whole driver still ahead of you. 16:34 [SPEAKER_03]: maybe double like maybe is the best but there's both the great ones on beyond if you go another 25 miles beyond the part boundary the road will be climbing steadily when you get up to about 4800 feet you'll come to a place called Rainy Pass 16:51 [SPEAKER_03]: might suggest to you, it's a little damp there times of the year. 16:53 [SPEAKER_03]: Not a rain forest, but if there's rain to there occasionally, it's pretty green. 16:57 [SPEAKER_03]: But if you stop there, there's a picnic area. 17:00 [SPEAKER_03]: And there's a two mile round trip paved trail. 17:04 [SPEAKER_03]: It's absolutely beautiful. 17:05 [SPEAKER_03]: You can go to a place called Rainy Lake. 17:09 [SPEAKER_03]: And it sure worth the hike from everything that I've read about it, it sure be worth the stop. 17:13 [SPEAKER_03]: Just keep in mind though, like we mentioned earlier, 17:16 [SPEAKER_03]: It's pretty high elevation to get a lot of snow, it's possible there will be some snow on the trail even in June. 17:22 [SPEAKER_03]: So if you're there early, if you're there in a May visit, the trail might not be a great opportunity. 17:26 [SPEAKER_03]: So it depends upon the time you're going to be there. 17:30 [SPEAKER_03]: So when you finish your stopping your hike there at the Rainy Pass, if you go another full mile, she'd come to Washington Pass, which is the high point on the road over 5,400 feet. 17:43 [SPEAKER_03]: And it's another just magnificent view there. 17:46 [SPEAKER_03]: In fact, if you look up on the south side of the road, there's a place called Liberty Bell Mountain, over 7700 feet. 17:56 [SPEAKER_03]: It's a real Mecca for rock climbers. 17:58 [SPEAKER_03]: In fact, someone's put out a book called the 50 classic plums of North America, and there was a climb on that mountain called the Liberty Crack, I guess that's a take off on the Crack and the Liberty Bell. 18:08 [SPEAKER_03]: that cloud was like to go in it. 18:09 [SPEAKER_03]: And plan was like to start their times from that parking area because it doesn't make jump start on the route. 18:14 [SPEAKER_03]: So you may see some folks climbing air, but it's really a beautiful view. 18:18 [SPEAKER_03]: And if you're parked there at the overlook, there's a just a quarter mile long trail that one of you says, here's the words that if they've got for unrelenting in your face beauty, you can't beat this 18:37 [SPEAKER_03]: So, select the senior there, according to a lot of folks who's really worth the stop, that would be a good place for you to go. 18:43 [SPEAKER_03]: Again, keep in mind, the season might be a factor, snow may limit your buildings too much hiking there, even into June. 18:53 [SPEAKER_03]: So, stop if you can't enjoy that because it's really a beautiful spot to enjoy the scenery. 18:59 [SPEAKER_03]: Now when you get to Washington past the scenic part of your drive is basically over your start literally down here for a long way from there. 19:07 [SPEAKER_03]: If your time is short and you can either continue your trip on east on Route 20, you can backtrack if you came from Seattle. 19:14 [SPEAKER_03]: But if you want to see the other part of the park that I mentioned. 19:19 [SPEAKER_03]: You've got a decision to make at that point from Washington past, it's about 100 miles and about it to our drive down to the small town of Chilean, it's C-H-E-L-A-N, in Chilean, Washington. 19:33 [SPEAKER_03]: And if you go down to Chilean, you're at the south end of Lake of Chilean, which is 50 miles long, 19:42 [SPEAKER_03]: The catch is if you're trying to get back to the park, only the northern tip of Lake Shalani is in the park. 19:49 [SPEAKER_03]: The rest of it is all surrounded by private land, the US Forest Service land. 19:54 [SPEAKER_03]: And if you are going back into the park, the big attraction there is a little tiny settlement. 20:00 [SPEAKER_03]: you're around population probably less than 80 people calls to Hicken and it's spelled ST-T-E-H-E-K-I-N, but pronounced to Hicken. 20:13 [SPEAKER_03]: And it's right on the northern end of Lakeshalon, but the trick is, 20:17 [SPEAKER_03]: There's no roads there. 20:19 [SPEAKER_03]: So I've got to make a trip to a stack and you have to go there by boat. 20:22 [SPEAKER_03]: Now if you're radically, you can go by horseback or you could hike or if you have your own boat and understand you can even charter a seaplane from Seattle if you really want to get there in style. 20:32 [SPEAKER_03]: But almost everybody that goes to heck and gets there by boat, there are two private ferry companies that operate from the southern end of the lake, they're around the town of Ciland that go to Hicken. 20:47 [SPEAKER_03]: about early May to mid-October and then they operate it the server days a week year round, but it's one of those things you want to check the schedule before you plane your trip. 20:58 [SPEAKER_03]: And there's several options. 21:00 [SPEAKER_03]: They have different boats that operate, some of them are faster than others. 21:04 [SPEAKER_03]: You can make the trip from the South and to North End Lake anywhere from about 70 minutes up to about four hours 21:14 [SPEAKER_03]: Now some days during the visitor season, if you want, it is possible just to make a date trip from Shland up to Heiken, the pinnip on which boat you take, you can be there anywhere from about an hour and a half to as long as six hours. 21:28 [SPEAKER_03]: Up at the north end of the lake. 21:30 [SPEAKER_03]: If you want to stay overnight, there's some pretty very attractive lodging 21:34 [SPEAKER_03]: opportunities. 21:34 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a big large, there's several private cabins, you can rent, there's a guest ranch. 21:40 [SPEAKER_03]: So things that you can do and spend really a nice time there if you want. 21:44 [SPEAKER_03]: But if you want to make a day trip, it's possible, in fact, to come to the areas. 21:48 [SPEAKER_03]: There's an 11 mile on road that starts at the boat landing and it parallels the lake for a short distance. 21:54 [SPEAKER_03]: And if you choose the right ferry, they'll meet you there with a bus, so take you to miles up the road. 21:59 [SPEAKER_03]: You can take a short hike to a beautiful waterfall. 22:02 [SPEAKER_03]: Go back down at time to get lunch. 22:04 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a great little bakery there. 22:05 [SPEAKER_03]: One of the few businesses down that Ray reviews about their cinnamon rolls. 22:09 [SPEAKER_03]: Then you can take the ferry and get back into the end of the day. 22:12 [SPEAKER_03]: So there are a day trip options if you choose to do that. 22:16 [SPEAKER_03]: If you're going to go there and stay there, during the vista season there, you should place, you could get meals, but a lot of people go and just plan to do their own cooking in some of the rooms, the cabinets have their own kitchen. 22:26 [SPEAKER_03]: If you do that, just be sure you take your own groceries. 22:29 [SPEAKER_03]: There's a small general store there, but understand that options are a little bit limited. 22:35 [SPEAKER_03]: So if you have specific things you want it on your meals, better take your own food. 22:39 [SPEAKER_03]: The way to get great information to plan a trip there, that area has a website at thecken.com. 22:46 [SPEAKER_03]: Again, it's spelled ST-E-H-E-K-I-N, and they've got links to the websites for the ferry companies and the places you can stay and tours on that sort of thing to help you plan your visit. 22:59 [SPEAKER_03]: I mentioned earlier that North Cascades is an outstanding place to go if you interested in backpacking or a serious mountaineering. 23:07 [SPEAKER_03]: If you're going to do even more of those, you need to really do your homework. 23:11 [SPEAKER_03]: There's some great information on the park website about permits you need. 23:15 [SPEAKER_03]: And again, the seasons people go there to climb on for ice and snow climbing, for example, but you need some details about that. 23:23 [SPEAKER_03]: If you look at the park 23:26 [SPEAKER_03]: In the upper left-hand corner, you'll see a link for playing your visit and if you just slide down it from there to where it says things to do, you'll see a whole list of details about things like voting and camping and climbing and hiking and that sort of thing you can get all you need to know about that kind of activity. 23:44 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to mention just for fun. 23:46 [SPEAKER_03]: If you're going there or thinking about a trip, maybe go mountaineering and if you're just a little superstitious, 23:54 [SPEAKER_03]: There are some names there that might give you pause about whether this is a trip you ready to want to make. 23:58 [SPEAKER_03]: I'll look, it's been a while, look at the map, here are some real place names in North Cascades National Park, Mount Terror, Mount Fury, Mount Challenger for Bidden Peak and Mount to the Spare. 24:15 [SPEAKER_03]: And if that doesn't set you back enough, there's also a Mount for Minimal. 24:19 [SPEAKER_03]: and mount format. 24:21 [SPEAKER_03]: So I guess you just take your luck if you want, but consider the names or some of those spots. 24:26 [SPEAKER_03]: I mentioned all those names really in jazz, especially saying, well, if you don't want to go to Mount Feary, maybe you can take a hike over easy 24:38 [SPEAKER_03]: Choose the destination for hiker or climb just based on the name. 24:42 [SPEAKER_03]: Easy pass. 24:43 [SPEAKER_03]: It's absolutely beautiful. 24:46 [SPEAKER_03]: The views from the hiker recipes may perhaps be some of the finest in the park. 24:51 [SPEAKER_03]: But the asterisk. 24:52 [SPEAKER_03]: next to that information is that the hike is anything but easy over stretch of all you three and a half miles the trail gains two thousand eight hundred feet. 25:03 [SPEAKER_03]: So it's the tough hike. 25:04 [SPEAKER_03]: So keep that in mind if you're trying to plan a hike just don't look at the name on a map. 25:09 [SPEAKER_03]: I've got an excellent example about why you also need to be careful if you're getting information just off the internet. 25:17 [SPEAKER_03]: This happened in just in this month, June of 2022. 25:21 [SPEAKER_03]: A teacher from school in Germany was responsible picking up a destination for a school trip for 99 kids in the early teens. 25:31 [SPEAKER_03]: So at 99 children and eight adults, they had to 25:36 [SPEAKER_03]: because they got stranded on a dangerous mountain trail in Austria. 25:41 [SPEAKER_03]: And they said evacuate 107 people from the mountain to the helicopter was not an easy job. 25:46 [SPEAKER_03]: That took more than 50 rescuers to pull this thing off. 25:50 [SPEAKER_03]: But here's the key point. 25:50 [SPEAKER_03]: The teacher chose his hike on the base of reading a single review on a website that described the route is an ideal opportunity for a relaxed, after work, stroll. 26:05 [SPEAKER_03]: The reality is the trailer is so dangerous all the local tourism targets have taken it off the map. 26:10 [SPEAKER_03]: They don't even want people going there. 26:13 [SPEAKER_03]: But the teacher chose on the basis of one online review. 26:17 [SPEAKER_03]: The local rescue officials, they had a good piece of advice, they said. 26:21 [SPEAKER_03]: If you're going on a hike, just get advice from somebody local that knows about it. 26:26 [SPEAKER_03]: And he said, they've had numerous cases there of tours. 26:30 [SPEAKER_03]: They had to be airlifted out because they're getting on a challenging trail. 26:33 [SPEAKER_03]: We're in flip-flops or sneakers. 26:36 [SPEAKER_03]: I thought this quote was really telling us there's not evenly trusting what you read somewhere online. 26:42 [SPEAKER_03]: Can get you into unpleasant situations. 26:45 [SPEAKER_03]: I thought that was a classic understatement. 26:52 [SPEAKER_03]: the Grand Canyon or you'll see where anywhere else that was a good tale to kind of remind us. 26:56 [SPEAKER_03]: Don't choose it on the basis of just the name or one review on the internet. 27:01 [SPEAKER_00]: I admit it to Jim that I do this too. 27:03 [SPEAKER_00]: I rely on reviews maybe more than I should, but sometimes it's the only thing you have to go by. 27:10 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I think as we don't know the background of person that wrote the review, in the case of the one in Germany or in Austria 27:22 [SPEAKER_03]: thing to do after work. 27:23 [SPEAKER_03]: He was an expert mountaineer for him. 27:25 [SPEAKER_03]: That was probably the easy thing to do after work. 27:27 [SPEAKER_03]: But you don't know that when you read his review. 27:30 [SPEAKER_03]: So just to work to the wise because it's online doesn't mean it's true, right? 27:34 [SPEAKER_00]: As I mentioned, and as is the case with all of these parks that we've covered, we loved our time in the North Cascades. 27:41 [SPEAKER_00]: But this is the part of the episode where I'd like to share a couple of negative reviews. 27:46 [SPEAKER_00]: From Shane, a different Shane, with a very different opinion. 27:51 [SPEAKER_00]: One star, don't go, you'll hate it. 27:54 [SPEAKER_00]: From Alexander V, one star, this is the worst national park in the world, the Food is nasty, the animals are poisonous, it is just bad over there, and Sandy L, who either does not understand the purpose of these reviews, or has large turk complaint with the wrong organization. 28:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Our RV was sitting there for four months. 28:15 [SPEAKER_00]: We dropped our RV off at the beginning of October, and it got back completely unsatisfied at the end of January. 28:23 [SPEAKER_00]: They told us repeatedly that they could only get two sets of lever springs and not four, telling us that they were on back order and didn't know when, if ever, they would arrive. 28:33 [SPEAKER_00]: So after three months, finally installed two sets. 28:37 [SPEAKER_00]: When we got home, and with one phone call, we found two other sets of springs. 28:42 [SPEAKER_00]: This last review reminded me of a story I'd heard Jim tell about another visitor who lost the plot in the North Cascades. 28:51 [SPEAKER_00]: And as always, there's a valuable lesson in her for all of us. 28:55 [SPEAKER_00]: That's true. 28:56 [SPEAKER_03]: You know the way that started that she had. 28:58 [SPEAKER_03]: She had a great plan at the beginning. 29:00 [SPEAKER_03]: this lady was going on a hike there in the North Cascades. 29:03 [SPEAKER_03]: She told some friends, I'm going to this particular trail. 29:06 [SPEAKER_03]: Here's my vehicle description. 29:08 [SPEAKER_03]: If they don't come back, we'll send help. 29:10 [SPEAKER_03]: So she didn't come back. 29:12 [SPEAKER_03]: And so they sent help. 29:14 [SPEAKER_03]: Couldn't find the lady. 29:15 [SPEAKER_03]: Her vehicle's not there. 29:16 [SPEAKER_03]: No trace over. 29:17 [SPEAKER_03]: They wasted some baby time in the wrong spot. 29:20 [SPEAKER_03]: It turns out that she had changed her plans. 29:22 [SPEAKER_03]: didn't tell anybody she's going to a different spot. 29:25 [SPEAKER_03]: Thankfully, they still had her vehicle description. 29:27 [SPEAKER_03]: They found her car 50 miles away at a totally different trail ahead in the park. 29:33 [SPEAKER_03]: So they started the search again there, expanded to a second day, person there using four helicopters, five dog teams, a tracking team, a dive team, and 40 individual searches looked all day. 29:46 [SPEAKER_03]: Couldn't find her. 29:47 [SPEAKER_03]: But they did find two notes that she left. 29:51 [SPEAKER_03]: That seemed like a logical thing to do. 29:53 [SPEAKER_03]: She said, I'm lost, I need help. 29:55 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to start hiking down stream. 29:58 [SPEAKER_03]: So please come find me. 30:00 [SPEAKER_03]: They looked all the rest of day downstream. 30:02 [SPEAKER_03]: No signiver. 30:04 [SPEAKER_03]: Third day, they said, well, we'll start looking upstream. 30:06 [SPEAKER_03]: We'll look up as far upstream as this reasonable thing. 30:09 [SPEAKER_03]: Somebody could possibly travel and they finally found her over two miles upstream from where they found the notes. 30:17 [SPEAKER_03]: So she said, well, if your third note said I changed my mind, 30:20 [SPEAKER_03]: She said, I decided downstream was going the wrong way. 30:23 [SPEAKER_03]: So I turned around, went upstream, but they didn't find the third node. 30:27 [SPEAKER_03]: And so unfortunately, that prolonged the whole thing. 30:30 [SPEAKER_03]: She was there in the next day and extra night. 30:32 [SPEAKER_03]: A lot of extra stress and time expenses everybody involved. 30:35 [SPEAKER_03]: So leaving notes was a fine plan, but the reality is if they had thinking about it, if you're in thick forest and a mountain and you can spot a note, you're doing their pre-gid job as a searcher. 30:45 [SPEAKER_03]: If they could have found the note, if she had stated where the note was written, they would have found her day sooner. 30:50 [SPEAKER_03]: So, the couple things you can learn from that, that first, don't hike alone unless you're going to be on a really heavily travel trail. 30:57 [SPEAKER_03]: But if you get hurt and you're hiking by yourself, you can, there's nobody to send for help. 31:02 [SPEAKER_03]: But if you're realized your loss, the main rule is to stop moving. 31:06 [SPEAKER_03]: Just sit down and sit tight. 31:08 [SPEAKER_03]: As I said, try to make yourself a large. 31:09 [SPEAKER_03]: You've got something brightly covered. 31:11 [SPEAKER_03]: You can lay out on the ground if they're looking for the helicopter spot. 31:14 [SPEAKER_03]: If you just keep moving, the odds are you're going to be harder to find, just in this case, and you run the risk of getting injured if you're just going off trail somewhere in rough country. 31:24 [SPEAKER_03]: And then finally, just always pick an activity in a destination that fits your skill level, and your comfort level, and you'll have a lot more fun. 31:33 [SPEAKER_03]: One good expression is if you don't get in over your head, then you won't lose your head on a trip, and that's probably a pretty good piece of advice. 31:41 [SPEAKER_03]: I asked him for a final word on the North Cascades. 31:45 [SPEAKER_03]: So people have a chance to go to North Cascades and I hope it will be memorable for all the right reasons and maybe if that's the case you'll be reminded of the names of two other peaks there, glory, mountain and magic mountains. 31:57 [SPEAKER_03]: I hope that those are the names they'll stick your mind and maybe not Mount Tara if you go to North Cascades. 32:02 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to thank Jim again for joining us and I've included a link to where you can find some of his books in the episode's show notes. 32:10 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd also like to thank Jim and Will for more than just parks. 32:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Their website is also in the show notes. 32:16 [SPEAKER_00]: We really couldn't have asked for better partners in telling the story of the National Park Service. 32:22 [SPEAKER_00]: And we hope you found their input as helpful as we have.
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