Started out on the Trail of the Cedars. There is a sign just before crossing the Skagit River on the bridge that reads "My dad built this bridge". Awesome! We hiked clock-wise around this trail. The informational signs are wonderful. The gigantic old growth trees are, as always, AMAZING! Benches along the way (that look like Flinstone mobiles) keep little people happy. Very odd to see creeks dry. Crossing back over the Skagit, we ate our lunch on a picnic table in the grass, while listening to the roaring river. Walking up the road behind The Gorge Inn, passing the Seattle City Light crew coming in to end their work day which was a big hit with the 4 year old grandson, we crossed the river again on the pedestrian foot bridge and walked to the Ladder Creek Falls trail. What a wonderful old building the powerhouse is! There is a small grassy area and benches near a empty fountain, benches along the way and pure beauty along the trail. These trails are partly paved, with handrails along the way. There are many steps to climb and a several tier water chute that decades of roaring water has carved in the rock. During the evening, this trail is lit up with multi-colored lights and music. We will be back for that soon! Great hikes for kids! Restrooms and a store, playground and a beautiful company town. 2.64 miles

My wife and I and our friend Stan were looking for a lowland hike somewhere up the North Cascades Highway. We decided to start out with Thunder Knob at the Colonial Creek Campground. This is a fine trail, except at the very beginning, and still in the campground, which requires delicate stepping across some braided creeks. Normally a bridge is in place but that has been temporarily removed for the Winter. Also, there were a number of blowdowns along the trail, but were navigable with minimal effort. This trail climbs moderately, about 650 feet in a mile or mile and a half, to about 1900 feet elevation. We had lunch at the top, with views of Diablo Lake and then returned to our car. Looking for more adventure we decided to stop at Newhalem and visit Ladder Creek Falls, a short hike right near the Gorge power station. These are some beautiful falls, and are lighted in the evening hours. Returning once again we noticed a footbridge crossing the river to the "Trail of the Cedars." This is an easy loop trail, built by City Light and the University of Washington Forestry department, and has informational signs about the environment. However, it is also possible to follow a spur trail to the Rock Shelter, a large boulder near Newhalem Creek, which Native Americans used for a hunting (Mountain Goats) and fishing shelter for about 1200 years. Smoke stain from their fires is still visible on the walls, but it is illegal to actually enter the shelter. There is a (nice) wooden platform from which you can view the shelter. The trail to the shelter has a spur which we decided to follow and it led to a couple of spots along Newhalem Creek adjacent to the river. Here we were able to do some photography, in my case some hand-held (with assistance from logs and boulders) time-lapse photos. All in all a very pleasurable day. For more photos: http://1drv.ms/1AbNAI1

Made a awesome adventure to Newhalem to complete most of their trail network. Other than visiting as a child, I haven't ever made a former visit to Newhalem. The city has a amazing history as it is the only city left in the United States that is entirely owned by a company. Seattle City Lights owns 100% of the towns property and created the town for the powerhouse workers. The town is absolutely beautiful and the trails are even better. The Skagit River Trail is a beautiful 1.8 mile loop from forest to bank. Massive oldgrowths lean over the swift Skagit. Trail of The Cedars is a 1 mile loop again along the Skagit. One of the best trail bridges I have seen... only needs to be entirely made of wood. The cedar oldgrowths here are absolutely mind-blowing. Hundreds of years old and hundreds of feet tall. One tree trisects into three ginormous towering trunks. Lastly, the Ladder Creek Falls trail starts at another footbridge suspended over the Skagit. This trail leads up behind the powerhouse to the falls. These falls are natural and have carved some impressively deep ravines into the rockbed. The falls are lit up at night with various colors. I didn't witness this but I imagine it's very romantic. These are three very well-labeled well-maintained trails. The information plaques were also very enjoyable, offering a different perspective of the surrounding enviroment. I definitely suggest these three trails as a day trip. It would be perfect for a family get-away or for a couple. The city of Newhalem is very charming and I wish I could live there... maybe after getting a engineering degree or something ;)

This was our second hike from Newhalem which began as a construction camp for workers building the Skagit Project. The Skagit Information Center across from the General Store is closed for the season, but the store had a brochure describing the walking tour of Newhalem. We hiked the Trail of the Cedars which is about a mile round-trip. It starts at the end of Main Street after crossing the suspension bridge across the Skagit River. This is a self-guided nature trail with signs describing the various trees. There are giant cedars, maples, paper birch, Douglas Fir, and Pacific Yew. The trail led to the Newhalem Powerhouse which is the oldest operating plant in the Skagit system.

I wanted to do this hike while I was in Newhalem. I drove around looking for the trailhead and realized it was probably the bridge that has not only been roped off, but surrounded by a big chain-link fence and danger signs. I assume the bridge is unsafe. So this hike seems to be unreachable at the moment.