A Wonderfall Hike -- Ladder Creek Falls Bursts With Color And Clarity, Which Are Natural Wonders

NEWHALEM, Skagit County - In a land scarred by visual reminders of man's constant battles with nature, something very refreshing has occurred at Ladder Creek Falls.

A truce.

A mere stone's throw from the North Cascades Highway, hidden behind a concrete powerhouse displaying all the architectural imagination of a garbage transfer station, nagging reminders of man's handiwork surround you.

The steps through the forest are concrete. The handrails are polished steel. Trees are connected by stringy electrical wire, which power colored lights at night.

Nature shines right through it. So brightly, in fact, that you quickly forget massive turbines are spinning water current into electricity not 50 yards away.

All along the half-mile trail, vine maples explode in unnaturally bright hues of yellow, orange and crimson. Moss coats long-abandoned man-made ponds in thick blankets of living pool-table felt.

And the waterfall draws your eyes like BBs to a magnet. It begins as glacial runoff 500 feet above, on a rocky shelf marking the edge of what once was a great gorge carved by the currently tamed upper Skagit River. From there, Ladder Creek plunges off a series of 30-foot steps, settling into round ponds with vertical rock walls polished smooth as marble.

At the bottom of each pond, the water is liquid glass - so clear that tiny stripes on rocks no bigger than a quarter are plainly visible 25 feet above. It is the image many a soft drink and beer manufacturer vainly attempt to portray. Absolute purity.

And in this setting, absolute irony.

That may well be exactly what J.D. Ross, Seattle City Light's first superintendent, had in mind 75 years ago, when he turned Ladder Creek Falls into a showcase for the city's burgeoning young Skagit Valley power project.

Using the stunning falls as a centerpiece, Ross used the space behind Newhalem's Gorge Powerhouse to paint a botanical portrait like few seen in the region before or since. His garden covered acres of terraced hillside and included stone fountains, large natural pools, ornate wooden bridges and built-in watering and root-warming systems.

It drew thousands of Seattle visitors, who probably left with the notion that shutting off one of the Northwest's mightiest rivers at the source was an OK thing if people gave a token gift back to nature.

The display remained a living public-relations tool for the city until World War II, when focuses and priorities shifted and the Ladder Creek Falls garden fell into disrepair. In the five decades since, the imported exotic plants have died off, with natural shrubs resuming their rightful places. Much of the trail system near the falls has collapsed or been closed for fear of the same. Roots have burst through old concrete. Nature has reestablished itself.

Somehow, the old manipulation and the new rejuvenation are a pleasant mix. Every fall, maple trees planted in the garden and vine maples growing naturally join branches for a display of color visitors won't soon forget. The mesmerizing, leaf-and-waterfall display - a short, suspension-bridge walk from Highway 20 - is a silent refuge in late October, when most tourists have fled and the only sounds come from City Light trucks.

The same can be said, in fact, of much of the Highway 20 region, which has finally burst into color. At Newhalem, the show began this week, when a blast of high-altitude snow finally chased off a malingering dose of warm weather. Almost overnight, sap hardened, seasons changed.

To see it, act fast. The colors are on display now and will be curbside mush in two weeks. You can't get a raincheck for North Cascades color. North Cascades Highway will close within weeks, depending on snowfall. Go equipped. Never hike far from your car in this territory without proper winter gear. Snow is a possibility.

Here's a sampling of places to escape, close to the highway and far, to breathe in the fresh air and fresh sights found only in Washington's Cascade Mountains.

Ladder Creek Falls. You don't have to venture far from the car to view one of Highway 20's most magnificent oddities. From Interstate 5 Exit 230 north of Mount Vernon, drive Highway 20 to Newhalem and park near the freshly repainted Gorge Powerhouse. Walk across the suspension bridge on the right and follow the trail. A full tour takes about an hour.

Upper Newhalem Creek. From Highway 20, follow signs to Newhalem Campground and drive 1.3 miles beyond it to the trailhead near the intake to the hydroelectric plant. This trail, which follows an old road 4.5 miles to a hiker/horse camp, particularly shines in the fall.

Diablo. Another City Light town ablaze in color this time of year, Diablo is surrounded by excellent autumn hiking, camping or merely loitering. From "downtown" Diablo, the Stetattle Trail follows Stetattle Creek to nice autumn scenery on the south side of Sourdough Mountain. In the same area, the Sourdough Mountain Trail looms as an aerobic-fitness hiking test. The trail gains 3,000 feet in the first two miles. Then it gets worse, climbing another 2,000 feet in the remaining 4.5 miles to the top. The view is stupendous.

Diablo Lake. Drive Highway 20 to Diablo Dam, drive across the dam and follow the road to its end just past the city's Diablo Lake ferry dock. The trail climbs gently to a crest above Diablo lake, then skirts the entire lake shore 3.8 miles to Ross Dam. This is a popular one-way walk for hikers who take the ferry one way to Ross Dam.

Ross Lake. More ambitious hikers might give this one a try. Drive Highway 20 to Ross Dam Trail near milepost 134. Hike .8 miles down to the gravel service road, go left, then bear right on the road down an incline to the top of Ross Dam. Cross the dam and you're on a trail that leads 6 miles up the west bank of Ross Lake to Big Beaver Creek Campground and trailhead. From here, a walk up Big Beaver trail will put you in the midst of one of the more spectacular old-growth cedar forests remaining on the planet.

Or, drive Highway 20 to Colonial Creek Campground and another nine miles east to the large trailhead parking lot near the Panther Creek Bridge. Hike the Ruby Creek Trail, which connects to the East Bank Trail. The East Bank Trail leads 31 magnificent miles north to Hozomeen Campground near the Canadian border. Obviously a bit much for a day hike. But hikes of any distance on this trail are memorable for their fall colors, which reflect beautifully in Ross Lake.

Easy Pass. First off, Easy Pass isn't. You'll gain significant altitude on the 4-mile round-trip walk. But the views - supplemented by golden bursts from larch trees, the only evergreen to change colors - are magnificent. The trailhead is on the south side of the highway just west of Rainy Pass.

Rainy Pass. A perennial crowd pleaser, Rainy Pass offers trails as short as the mile-long, barrier-free path to Rainy Lake and as long as the Pacific Crest Trail, which crosses here on its march from British Columbia to Mexico. The trailhead is about 40 miles east of Newhalem.

More information: Contact the Outdoor Recreation Information Center, 915 Second Avenue, Suite 442, Seattle, 98174; 220-7450. For more short dayhikes in the Diablo-Newhalem area, stop at the new North Cascades Visitors Center in west Newhalem, open daily 9 to 5 until mid November, then weekends only.