Because we were visiting North Cascades in the early season -- actually, the day the main park road reopened! -- we had a limited number of campgrounds to choose from within the low-country area of the park.

Newhalem was a nice base camp for our four days of hiking and driving our way through the park. The sites were spacious and scenic, and there were flush toilets and running water nearby. Since it was late April, there was maybe only one or two other campers in the campground, so that added to our sense of solitude.

In any other case, we would choose to visit North Cascades much later in the season. We love to hike, and only were able to hike low-elevation trails like Fourth of July Pass and Thunder Knob. We also had the Diablo Lake Overlook all to ourselves, which is a jaw-dropping view.

You can read much more about our five days in the park on our blog: Switchback Kids (North Cascades)