The North Cascades are a dream location for recreation seekers in Seattle and the rest of the Greater Puget Sound area of Washington State. Why is this a dream location for Seattle recreation? Because the entrance to the North Cascades is only a two hour drive away. This is real Seattle recreation in the heart of the great state of Washington.

Forget the buildings, and forget the rat race, and forget the concrete jungle. Look out your window and look to the north east and see the North Cascades looming on the skyline.

Yes, that is Mt. Baker, and yes it's snow capped year round, and yes it's a volcano.

Seattle residents, why are you jogging on the Burke-Gilman trail when you can be hiking in the middle of the wilderness -- just you and nature and God's country and the bears -- as well as the mountains and alpine lakes and creeks and rivers.

Up here there's no worries about outdoor recreation being disturbed by the piercing of a police siren. It just doesn't happen when you're up in the North Cascades. The only thing you're going to hear is nature, the beauty of nature around you.

We might not have Heaven in this world, but when you're in the North Cascades seeking recreation and Seattle is only a glimmer on the horizon, you know that God is using this place to give us a sample of what awaits in the next life.

New to Washington State and Looking for Seattle Recreation

Hiking - One of the first adventures we're going to suggest to recreation seekers in Seattle, is hiking. I'm talking a full-scale multi-day hike where you have to pack freeze dried food and leave excess items behind in order to keep your pack light, so you can go 15 miles in just a few hours and see just what you're made of.

If you've been working downtown Seattle and drinking Starbucks and Red Bulls day after day and the highlight of your day is "light traffic", the North Cascades are going to change you. First, they are going to break you -- stripping away everything that society has been drilling into your head through TV, radio, Myspace, and politics. Forget the beer commercials, and forget about the tired state of America.

Yes, these things have made you weak, and frustrated, and bitter, and nervous, and tired. The North Cascades are going to rebuild you, but you have to want it. Instead of seeing things through nervous, frustrated, and tired eyes, you're going to start to see things through the eyes of peace, and a new love in your heart for the simple beauty of nature, as God intended it.

After a few hours of being away from the dark things of society, you're brain is going to shift gears, and it's going to look around and enjoy everything the North Cascades has to offer.

Outdoor Recreation Not Far from Seattle

Camping - Camping doesn't have to be a distant memory from childhood, when you're parents loaded up the station wagon and took you, your brothers and sisters away for a Memorial Day weekend. So two weeks before this Memorial Day weekend, go into your Seattle office and tell your friends who work on the same floor as you that this time you're going to skip on the binge drinking and late night partying so common in Pioneer Square. Instead, you're heading off into the wilderness in search of truth. Let them see your passion and they'll follow. They're rats in a rat race. You just need to point them in a different direction and that's the way they're going to go.

All you have to do is get them to the North Cascades, and the North Cascades will take care of the rest.