North Cascades National Park turns 58
Oct 2, 2026, 12:23 PM
Mount Shuksan at North Cascades National Park. (Photo: Jeffhollett via Wikimedia Commons)
(Photo: Jeffhollett via Wikimedia Commons)
It may be the least famous of Washington’s three national parks, but today belongs to the North Cascades.
The park turns 58.
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation creating North Cascades National Park on Oct. 2, 1968. The same law created Ross Lake and Lake Chelan national recreation areas.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs legislation establishing North Cascades National Park on Oct. 2, 1968, joined by Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, Washington Sen. Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson and others. (Photo courtesy of NPS)
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Law creating North Cascades National Park also expanded wilderness protections
Congress said the goal was to preserve the region’s mountain scenery, snowfields, glaciers, alpine meadows, and other unique natural features of the North Cascades.
The legislation reached well beyond the boundaries of the new park.
It designated about 500,000 acres east of Ross Lake as the Pasayten Wilderness. It also added about 10,000 acres along the Suiattle and White Chuck River corridors to the Glacier Peak Wilderness.
Ross Lake National Recreation Area takes in portions of the Skagit River and Ross, Diablo, and Gorge lakes. Lake Chelan National Recreation Area includes portions of Lake Chelan and the Stehekin River.
Together, the park and the two recreation areas make up the North Cascades National Park Service Complex.
More information about North Cascades National Park, including current conditions and trip planning, is available from the National Park Service.
Read more of Tim Hohl’s stories here.
