Day 3: Rasar State Park, Baker Lake, and Newhalem

The first night in the camper goes well. It's a bit chilly (16°C), but the kids sleep normally. Unfortunately, only until 6 o'clock, which is advantageous because you can get more done.
Our heater quickly warms up the space, so it's comfortable. The sun is shining, so we take a walk through Rasar State Park. We reach the Skagit River and Erik tries his luck with his fishing rod. He tries a few times. Then Dad wants to show him how it's done correctly. He casts the plastic fish far out, but the line breaks and the fish sinks. After a very short moment of sadness and the promise to buy new line and bait, Erik is satisfied. We walk about 1 km along the river and through the forest. It describes how the farmers made the land usable, which was not advantageous for the plants and animals, then and now. The guidebook writes that many forests were cleared, permanently changing nature.
That's why the state parks were established. After our tour, we continue to Baker Lake via Conkrete.
It's lunchtime and we picnic at Baker Lake. The advantage of the camper is that we can quickly prepare a meal. We are right by the lake and the view is enchanting, the water and the mountains in the background. Erik plays with his repaired fishing rod and enjoys it.
We spend some time there and enjoy the beauty of nature. Afterwards, we hike nearby on a small interpretive trail called Shadows of the Sentinels. The path leads through the mature forest with typical trees of the Pacific Northwest, the cedars and Douglas firs. The highlight is a 680-year-old Douglas fir, very impressive with its height and width. The forest is left to itself, only the path is maintained. Fallen trees are incorporated under the wooden walkway. Once again, it is a reminder of what humans have done with their deforestation.
After 20 minutes, we are back in the car heading to Newhalem. When we arrive, we visit the visitor center of North Cascades National Park, which has a very nice exhibition about the animal and plant life. In every national park, a Junior Park Ranger program is offered. Children between the ages of 5 and 8 can expand their knowledge of nature. Erik wants to participate. We receive a booklet with various questions, puzzles, and tasks about the respective national park. Now I will translate the tasks as best as I can and try to solve them with Erik. We have to match where a bear, fish, bird, and human live and what they eat. Another task is to match footprints. We also have to search for different pinecones to identify similarities and differences. Eventually, we complete 4 tasks, but the others are too difficult to translate or too difficult for Erik. The goal is to complete 5 tasks, but the ranger is not very strict about it. Erik has to promise to take care of the forest and do everything to preserve nature, then he will receive his badge. He is now a Junior Park Ranger of North Cascades NP and is proud of it. Around the corner is our campground for the night. We settle into our area and want to buy firewood from the host, but unfortunately, it cannot be purchased here. Now we all have to get back into the camper and drive to the nearest supermarket to buy firewood. After dinner with a lot of noise, David is quite restless, we light our little fire. David is already asleep when we grill marshmallows over the fire. We enjoy it and it clearly brings Erik joy. The ranger visits us and tells us about a black bear wandering around. We are not allowed to leave any food outside, and children should not be outside when it's dark. Our fire can stay on and if the bear appears, making noise will help. I'm curious if we will get a visit.