North Cascades Environmental Learning Center
Marblemount, WA
The North Cascades Environmental Learning Center sits on the shores of Diablo Lake and serves as an educational campus for North Cascades Institute. The grounds provide direct shoreline access to the turquoise waters of Diablo Lake with views of Sourdough Mountain. The facility offers lodging and programs throughout the summer season.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- blue hour
- Crowds
- Quiet
- Shot Types
- landscapereflectionwide
- Best Seasons
- summerfall
Author's Comments
Most people who drive Highway 20 stop at the Diablo Lake Overlook, take the photograph everyone takes, and continue on. That photograph is a good one. But if you turn off the highway and follow the road down toward the dam, then across, you will find a small campus tucked along the north shore of the lake that almost no one thinks to visit. The grounds are open to the public during the day. You can simply walk down to the water. The lake here is the same impossible turquoise it is from the overlook, but the relationship is different. From above, Diablo is a postcard. From the shoreline, it is a body of water you could put your hand in. Sourdough Mountain rises directly across, and on a still evening the reflection holds long enough to photograph properly. Blue hour in late August is when I would come. The water goes a deeper green as the light leaves, the mountain darkens behind it, and the surface stops moving entirely for a window of maybe twenty minutes. This is not a place that announces itself. There are no interpretive signs telling you what you are looking at, no parking lot built for a view. You walk down past the lodges, find the shore, and stand there. I have been to the overlook many times. I have only been down to the water twice, and both times I stayed longer than I meant to.
Gallery
You might also like
Nearby Places
Marblemount, WA
Gorge Creek Falls
Gorge Creek Falls drops 242 feet into a narrow, moss-covered gorge along the North Cascades Highway. A footbridge directly over the gorge provides a dramatic vantage point. The falls flow year-round, though volume is highest during spring snowmelt.
Marblemount, WA
Ladder Creek Falls
Ladder Creek Falls is a series of cascades flowing through a lush, mossy gorge near the town of Newhalem in North Cascades National Park complex. A short loop trail with interpretive signs follows the creek through old-growth forest. Seattle City Light historically illuminated the falls at night during summer months.
Marblemount, WA
Diablo Lake Overlook
This overlook provides sweeping views of Diablo Lake, whose striking turquoise color comes from glacial flour suspended in the water. The surrounding peaks of the North Cascades frame the lake on all sides. The overlook is accessible from a pullout along Highway 20.