The Trail of the Cedars is a self-guided nature trail in Newhalem (down the street from the Gorge Powerhouse) that introduces visitors to a wide variety of native plants and animals. The meandering trail travels through towering Western red cedars, maples, paper birch, Douglas Fir, and Pacific Yew.
Entrance to the trail
The path initially enters a new forest, created after the original forest burned and new plants invaded and established themselves.
New forest
We then explore types of trees pointed out by signage along the trail.
Paper birch
Tree that survived the fire
Trees that didn't
We wander by a "see-through" tree. Most mature Western red cedar are rotten in the middle due to a fungus that causes rot in the heartwood, hollowing out the tree. Food is manufactured in the needles and carried down the external trunk, while water is carried up.
See-through tree
The trail passes by the Newhalem Powerhouse built in 1921 to provide power from the Skagit River to operate a sawmill. A new powerhouse was built on the site in 1970 and is controlled from the nearby Gorge Powerhouse control room.
Newhalem Powerhouse
At the output of the powerhouse, a tailrace barrier prevents salmon from swimming the wrong way up the river and into the powerhouse turbines. We look up the unfamiliar word "tailrace" and find that it is the channel that carries water away from a powerhouse or dam, located immediately downstream.
Keeping the salmon out
Skagit River hydroelectric projects
The path loops around and continues back toward the entrance.
Continuing along the path
Looking up at the land around us, we are told that it forms a three-story forest. The large evergreens form the top layer. The middle layer is Vine Maple, growing to a height of 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters). The ground layer here is Oregon Grape, an evergreen shrub.
Three-story forest
Lots of stumps
We come across a dead Western Hemlock covered with woodpecker holes. Insects attacking the dead wood provide food for woodpeckers who drill holes in the tree to get at them.
Woodpecker tree
We finish our walk and continue out out into the town of Newhalem on the Skagit river, a company town owned by Seattle City Light and populated entirely by employees of the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project and county, state, or federal agencies.
Skagit River
As we leave town, we pass by a sawmill, surrounded by logs that have been hauled in the by logging trucks which we see all over the roads.
Sawmill yard
We've had a great adventure in the Northern Cascades and are now heading home.
