Even within a National park, a couple of the Cascades’ biggest dams are along this water shed of the Skagit River. They claim that they are upstream from a natural salmon barrier, huge boulder cascades, so these dams are safe from the fate of the Elwha River dam that is coming down in Olympia. Folks at the local environmental center were pretty psyched that with all the water this year people are seeing the river in its natural state since the dams are diverting and the riverbed isn’t dry like it usually is. It is easy to see why this area was attractive for hydro power. There are huge snow fields in the mountains, lots of rain, very narrow gorges that are readily dammed. Magnificent valleys and rugged rivers were lost but some beautiful lakes created.