Sight · North Cascades National Park
A short memorial to J.D. Ross, the man behind Seattle’s Skagit Project.
Overview
Map
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
Historic Newhalem: Fudge, a Steam Engine and Cedars“You're coming up on historic Newhalem, a company town built for the Skagit hydroelectric project. Make this a stop for a treat and a wander.”
Plays as you drive up to Ross Crypt in the Parkwolf North Cascades Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“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
Ross Crypt is a small memorial set into the base of Ross Mountain in Newhalem, where Seattle City Light leader J.D. Ross and his wife Alice are buried. I’d add it to a history-minded wander through town; on its own, it’s a brief look rather than a long visit.
Newhalem’s self-guided walking tour ends here and gives a walk-or-drive choice from the previous stop. It doesn’t mark a dedicated parking area at the crypt, so plan it as part of the town route rather than counting on an easy roadside pull-in.
Ross drove development of the Skagit Project, an approximately 40-mile hydroelectric system along the Skagit River from Newhalem to the Canadian border. Seattle City Light has generated power on the upper Skagit since 1918, and Ross led the first Skagit tour in 1928. His crypt is a small memorial to the man behind that larger engineering story.
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 · 0.3 mi awayCross the suspension bridge for an easy old-growth river loop.
EasyRock Shelter Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · 0.7 mi awayA short accessible walk to a 1,400-year-old hunting camp.
EasyLower Newhalem Creek Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · 0.7 mi awayCreekside walk to a cedar glade still finding its way back.
EasyTo Know a Tree Nature Trail1 mi · 45 min · 0.9 mi awayTree signs turn this easy riverside walk into a small nature lesson.
EasyRiver Loop Trail1.8 mi · 45 min · 1.2 mi awayA forest loop to a gravel bar with broad Skagit River views.
EasySterling Munro Trail0.2 mi · 12 min · 1.2 mi awayA brief wooden walk opens onto a Picket Range viewpoint.
EasyGorge Overlook Trail0.5 mi · 45 min · 2.3 mi awayA short loop with a lake, a dam and a waterfall view.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayGorge Powerhouse Visitor GallerySee the Skagit Project’s generators from inside the powerhouse.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayOld Number Six LocomotiveClimb into an old steam engine and ring its brass bell.
Store · 0.2 mi awaySkagit General StoreA working 1922 company store with fudge and camp supplies.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayGorge InnA 1925 cookhouse puts the Skagit dams' human story on display.
Visitor center · 0.2 mi awaySkagit Information CenterHydroelectric history and local help on the road through Newhalem.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayLadder Creek FallsA short falls loop with gardens and a night light show.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayTemple of PowerA gazebo built from hardware that once helped power Seattle.
Sight · 0.5 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.
