Voices of the North Cascades

In this episode, Roy Zipp, an environmental protection specialist, shares the first time he visited the North Cascades. He then explains the Wilderness Act and shares what one might find when entering a designated Wilderness Area. Music: "Homebound" by Jag

We visit the northern boundary of the North Cascades, where the park meets the Canadian border at a campground called Hozomeen. Reaching Hozomeen isn’t always easy; you can take a boat trip up Ross Lake, go hiking, or drive down a bumpy gravel road through British Columbia. But as you’ll hear, it’s well worth the effort. Today, we meet with two interpreters—one American, one Canadian—who spend their summers working in Hozomeen and have a unique partnership found nowhere else.

Bob Mierendorf, Park Archeologist, explains the significance of North Cascades cultural research, rewriting our understanding of how native peoples in the Pacific Northwest interacted with the mountain landscape. He also offers some surprising revelations about one of our most popular trails in the park: Cascade Pass.

Paula Ogden-Muse, an education specialist, shares the many times that she feels emotionally connected to North Cascades National Park. And in a plea to park visitors, she suggests that the most important way to protect our national parks is one of the easiest things that we can do.

In this episode, maintenance worker Michael Brondi shares his thoughts about protecting national parks and why he gets so much joy out of working with youth. Rosemary Seifried, a park ranger, recalls how she first arrived at North Cascades and the thrill of discovery from being outside in nature.