Sight · North Cascades National Park
See the Skagit Project’s generators from inside the powerhouse.
Overview
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Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
North Cascades Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for North Cascades National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the North Cascades audio tourRecorded for this place
Ladder Creek Falls and Gorge Powerhouse“You're approaching Ladder Creek Falls and Gorge Powerhouse in Upper Newhalem. For a short waterfall walk, cross the suspension footbridge and allow about half an hour for the garden loop.”
Plays as you drive up to Gorge Powerhouse Visitor Gallery in the Parkwolf North Cascades Tour Guide.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Gorge Powerhouse Visitor Gallery is a public interpretive gallery inside the operating powerhouse in Newhalem. From its viewing area, you look down onto the generator floor while displays and a historic photo timeline explain the Skagit Hydroelectric Project. If you like seeing how a hydroelectric plant works, this is an easy, worthwhile stop on the drive through the park.
The visitor approach crosses a pedestrian bridge over the Skagit River to the back side of the powerhouse. The gallery runs seasonally, from Memorial Day weekend through October. It’s a short indoor visit, so give yourself more time if you want to explore the surrounding grounds too.
The nearby Newhalem General Store is a separate stop for snacks, drinks and homemade Skagit fudge. Ladder Creek Falls and Garden is another separate walk nearby; pair it with the gallery if you want a little time outside after looking over the generator floor.
Newhalem grew as a company town for the hydroelectric project. It was established in 1918 and once housed more than 300 workers and their families. The gallery makes more sense with that context: the powerhouse and town grew together around the Skagit River project.
Wildlife
101 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
70 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
20 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
77 sightingsSooty GrouseMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
23 sightingsWhite-tailed PtarmiganMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
75 sightingsWestern ToadMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across North Cascades. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyLadder Creek Falls Trail0.5 mi · 30 min · 0.1 mi awayA half-mile waterfall loop with a hydroelectric past.
EasyTrail of the Cedars Nature Walk0.5 mi · 30 min · 0.4 mi awayCross the suspension bridge for an easy old-growth river loop.
EasyRock Shelter Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · 0.8 mi awayA short accessible walk to a 1,400-year-old hunting camp.
EasyLower Newhalem Creek Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · 0.8 mi awayCreekside walk to a cedar glade still finding its way back.
EasyTo Know a Tree Nature Trail1 mi · 45 min · 1 mi awayTree signs turn this easy riverside walk into a small nature lesson.
EasyRiver Loop Trail1.8 mi · 45 min · 1.4 mi awayA forest loop to a gravel bar with broad Skagit River views.
EasySterling Munro Trail0.2 mi · 12 min · 1.4 mi awayA brief wooden walk opens onto a Picket Range viewpoint.
EasyGorge Overlook Trail0.5 mi · 45 min · 2.2 mi awayA short loop with a lake, a dam and a waterfall view.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayLadder Creek FallsA short falls loop with gardens and a night light show.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayRoss CryptA short memorial to J.D. Ross, the man behind Seattle’s Skagit Project.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayOld Number Six LocomotiveClimb into an old steam engine and ring its brass bell.
Sight · 0.3 mi awayGorge InnA 1925 cookhouse puts the Skagit dams' human story on display.
Store · 0.3 mi awaySkagit General StoreA working 1922 company store with fudge and camp supplies.
Visitor center · 0.4 mi awaySkagit Information CenterHydroelectric history and local help on the road through Newhalem.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayTemple of PowerA gazebo built from hardware that once helped power Seattle.
Sight · 0.6 mi awayNewhalem Creek PowerhouseA 1921 powerhouse that helped build Newhalem and Gorge Dam.Parkwolf’s North Cascades ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
