North Cascades National Park
Trail of the Cedars
easy FamiliesFirst-TimersPhotographers
0.3 mi Distance
Varies Estimated Time
loop Trail Type
What to Expect
Half a mile from the Newhalem visitor center, the Trail of the Cedars drops you into a cathedral. Ancient western red cedars rise like columns — some wide enough that three people linking hands couldn't encircle them — draped in moss and filtering the light into something green and diffuse. The boardwalk keeps your feet dry as it loops through the grove, then a suspension bridge swings you out over the Skagit River for a moment of real drama before delivering you back to the trailhead. The whole thing takes maybe twenty minutes at a dawdle. This is not a workout; it's a mood. Young kids, grandparents, anyone who wants five minutes of genuine old-growth awe without earning it will find exactly what they came for.
Trail Details
Distance 0.3 miles round-trip
Difficulty easy
Estimated Time Varies
Trail Type loop
Pets Not allowed
Season Year-round
Trailhead Trail of the Cedars
- 1
Visit on an overcast or drizzly day — the moss saturates to a vivid green and the light goes flat in the best possible way for photos. Sunny afternoons create harsh dappled contrast that fights the forest floor.
- 2
Combine this with the Ladder Creek Falls trail immediately adjacent — together they take under an hour and give you waterfall drama plus the cedar grove without backtracking to the car.
- 3
Stand at the center of the suspension bridge and look upstream toward the river bend for the best angle on the Skagit. Morning light hits this spot well before the canyon walls block it out.
