North Cascades Visitor Center

Shalini Joiner

2024-04

If you are visiting the North Cascades, the visitor center is a very worthwhile stop, if for no other reason than to use clean bathrooms, as well as get the lowdown on hiking trails, and whether there are any closures/risks to be aware of. When we stopped here in the fall, a number of trails were being impacted by the Blue Lake fire.The visitor center was setup very well- it's a beautifully-designed structure, with a nice seating/fireplace area. There are are a number of exhibits and displays with info about local wildlife, geology, historical exploration, a gift shop, and helpful rangers onsite to answer and share helpful info. There are also trailheads nearby that give you a great sampling of what this area has to offer- the short and easy Sterling Munro trail with a beautiful viewpoint, and the River Loop trail taking you up close to the Skagit River.Stopping here helped us zero in on a reasonable plan of approach to explore this spectacular and large area.

Kedar Kelkar

2023-10

Beautiful visitor center of a mesmerizing national park. North Cascades National Park is truly a gem of the national park system, and this visitor center, along with its surroundings is a destination by itself.There are a number of exhibits explaining the makings and geology of the cascade mountains. There are also exhibits about the wildlife found in the area and its adjacent forests. And of course there are lots of books, t-shirts, caps and memorabilia in the gift shop.There are a few trails around including a river loop that goes up to the beautiful Skagit river.The only limitation of this visitor center is it is open only in summer months. It's closed from 1st of October to perhaps June. The park is still open and the trails can still be taken where possible including some snow shoeing.If you are visiting the national park, please make it a point to go to this visitor center.

Denise

2023-10

One of our very favorite places to visit. The building itself is impressive! There are several short trails out back; the short Munro boardwalk trail leads to a breathtaking view of the mountains. Inside are interpretive displays and films, an excellent gift shop, and some very knowledgeable rangers. And the restrooms are good! Often we just take a drive up to the visitor center, visit the educational displays and gift shop, take a walk on a trail, and come back home with a bunch of photos of the stunning scenery. It's a nice little trip.

Rajesh Ramchandani

2023-07

Gorgeous national park with a breathtaking view of the mountains and rivers. Enjoy the beauty of mammoth mountains, waterfalls and the lush green valley. There are lots of points to experience the views from. You can hike or drive down to the points of interest. But either way you can enjoy the beauty of our national parks and be thankful to the beautiful nature around us.

Bret Warren

2023-06

This visitor center is like a miniature museum. There is a really neat viewpoint where you can see a snow capped mountain, even during the summer. There is a theater here, a gift shop, outdoor benches, and picnic tables. A wooden boardwalk out back takes you to the viewpoint. We were here with small children who enjoyed this visitor center.

Derrick

2023-08

This is a great place to visit. The scenery is amazing, and one of the few restrooms in the area (the restrooms are very clean). If you have children, they can watch a short presentation and get their junior ranger badge.

Kay

2023-05

Wish it was open! We love to see the visitor centers for information and souvenirs. It was closed but the park was open. We took a look at the map by the visitor center and did the river loop trail. So pretty but so freaking quite. Not a soul was there and couldn’t even hear the birds. We ended up running into a huge deer that crossed the trail in front of us. The river was so beautiful. The colors I’ve never seen before at a River in Washington. It was magical.

Urracadan Williamson

2023-10

Lots of free handicapped parking and entrance. Friendly, knowledgeable well trained staff. Clean restrooms, not a very good selection of swag but still good. Great location.

Jane Hendrick

2023-07

Helpful staffYou should give each employee the chance, on government time, to make trips into the park so they have 1st hand knowledge of accessing trails, visiting Stehekin, helping with trail crew, boat trips on Ross Lake.

Jonathan Kraft

2023-07

Really fun to see the topographical map of the whole range. Also, love the exhibit about the animals and history of the place. Definitely recommend a stop here.

Cheryl Ware

2023-10

Helpful staff, nice gift shop, and great displays. Nice hike just out back of the visitor center.

Zohaib Khan

2023-09

The staff was amazing. If you a first timer here and looking for good tips then you got to stop here. Catch some breath and view some amazing history.

Sowmya

2023-09

Was very informative. No food available. But some snack bars were available in the gift store. A few hundred feet walk to the Picket Range overlook. This place has the trailhead to a short hike near the Skagit river.

Josh

2023-05

There is useful park information outside and inside the visitor center. There is also a gift shop. The Ranger had pretty good info and advice on hiking trails too, which is always a useful supplement.

Alex Stoklas

2022-05

Limited services available but enough to get an idea what to do at the park. The Visitor Center is open, you can meet Rangers outside and get recommendations and maps, indoors is reduced to a small gift shop and restrooms. The theater as well as exhibits are still closed. Masks are currently mandatory and capacity is limited to 10.

Mel anie

2022-05

A must stop before visiting the park. We were able to get lots of information - which was helpful because there are still lots of snow-covered trails.Thankful they had the passport stamps set up outside. Great little gift store with limited capacity but it moved quickly.

Balaji G.

2021-05

Northern Cascades is a very serene and exceptionally beautiful place to visit. It is tucked in the middle of a small town Marblemount. The visitor center is spacious and has a boardwalk around the center which provides beautiful landscape views of the Cascade mountains with the majestic glaciers. The staff as usual were very friendly and cooperative and provided very useful information about the various trails that could be explored around the area and their relative difficulty levels.

Scott Latimer

2021-05

Covid has the store closed, but they have set up a few outside stations with park rangers to answer questions and a small souvenirs stand. 300 foot walk behind the center gets you a nice view of a Glacier!

Mike Oxbig

2023-05

Amazing and informative Park Rangers. Extremely helpful and courteous. Great prices on their gifts. Bought a few items and we are extremely happy. Love this place.

Samuel Driggers

2023-08

Very nice visitor center with theater, educational area, gift shop, and trails. Junior park ranger program for kids. Stamps, coins, stickers, shirts, etc in gift shop.

Wayne G

2022-05

Very nice helpful staff. We went during the week and was a great quiet low stress National Park experience. Bought some souvenirs, which was also a low stress experience of not waiting in a long line, NO LINE. Definitely not like Yosemite with a million people crawling over you or walking thru your photo op. The park is free entry too.

Karen B

2023-05

Nice informative visitor center. Make sure to watch the bear video here. It was very informative and helpful. My Texas grandchildren were way less nervous about bears after watching it. The carving over the fireplace is worth a stop on it's own!! Very nice!!

Heather Saulsbury

2022-05

We love to stop in at the Visitors center and check out what's new. We also love to explore around Newhalem. For such a tiny spots that is lots to do.

Kin Nari

2024-04

Was closed at the end of March. No access to bathrooms either. Visit Skagit Info center for restrooms- thank you! Thanks for keeping one park stamp outside with ink for visitors!

Kumar Vaibhav

2023-05

One of the decent visitor center. I can't say it is operating in full capacity. Since the area is known for skiing, they probably start more activities later in September.

Rohit Sharma

2022-05

Loved the place, have some trails and has information center, you can confirm bear sighting information and camping information here

Scott Collins

2019-05

This was a great stop. The rangers are extremely friendly and helpful. They had videos playing in one room, they have a museum in another room, and a kids play and color area. They also have a nice gift shop. Out back there is a boardwalk leading to a very of the mountains. This is a fantastic place to stop especially with kids.Every time we stopped by it was fairly busy but there is always plenty of parking.

Brianna Seaberg

2023-11

Such a great stop before going into the park! They were so helpful and gave us such good recommendations for hikes. Definitely recommend getting a national park book here and getting it stamped! The nature trail out back is gorgeous as well.

Robert Harrington

2019-05

Must do stop at entrance of North Cascades National Park. We visited North Cascades National Park as a great stop on a two-day drive between Vancouver and Boise. The North Cascades Visitor Center at the west entrance of the park was a quick, must-do stop for us. Note, there are multiple centers in and around the park; we chose this specific center based on the description on the National Park Service web site. To get to the North Cascades Visitor Center, you turn south off North Cascades Highway just west of Newhalem (Note: don’t miss the interesting trails and sights around Newhalem. After you leave the highway, you drive a somewhat twisty, short way off the North Cascades Highway, across a one-lane bridge over the Skagit River, to a parking area with plenty of parking among beautiful forest. The center is much larger than we expected and included a helpful park staff, a 3D park map, a huge fireplace with sitting area overlooking the forest, interesting displays, and other offerings. TIP: be sure to take the trail out the back of the center for a short, easy walk to an iconic photo spot. I highly recommend you take a moment to stop here on your way into the park.

skylar walter

2023-08

the older, female ranger was very helpful in providing us suggestions— we appreciated her time! ask about their junior ranger book! sadly, no BARK ranger program at this time (although many trails are dog friendly). the museum portion of the visitor center is well done. and the gift shop is small, but has a big selection of items! the younger female working the register was super kind! all in all, a positive experience.