My North Cascades Story - Why I Love the North Cascades

By Elly McClane, age 13, Vertical World Team Youth Rock Climber

Every year my family spends a week around the holidays cross-country skiing in the Methow Valley. We've been doing this since I was 3 years old. My brother even started skiing before he was born! I love skiing all the trails at Sun Mountain and in the summer, we ride our bikes (or horses if I'm lucky) on the same trails.

Some of my favorite memories are from trips my family has made to the North Cascades. Did you know that a Ponderosa Pine smells like vanilla if you smoosh your nose against it. We've backpacked to beautiful lakes and hiked on snow in July.

For the past two years, my rock climbing team has helped build trails to some of the crags in Newhalem. The trail work is hard but fun. Rangers from the park come along to tell us about the plants and animals that live in the area. Of course the best part is that after the work is done, we get to climb!