The North Cascades provide a place where people can experience nature on her own terms, a place where the artifacts of modern technological civilization fall away. We are left standing alone, just below the summit, mist rising from the forest below; before us there is nothing but an endless sea of peaks. North Cascades National Park in northwestern Washington State, established in 1968, preserves majestic mountains, glaciers, forests, meadows, and thriving animal communities.