North Cascades Environmental Learning Center

Location :

1940 Diablo Dam Rd, Rockport, WA 98283, USA
Added by Jopie, at 01 September 2015

Add email
Add business description
Add Social Media
Add Products and Services

• Cindy Marzolf

  12 September 2016

  Base Camp is a great program. Wonderful place to stay in the North Cascades National Park itself. The campus is quite lovely, and the food is amazing! Wonderful setting, plenty of great trails, lots of nice places to hang out and relax and watch the stars/wildlife/sunset/read a book and relax. The lodges are very nice, immaculately clean and shoes-off. There were 6 or 7 rooms in mine (Fir Lodge) and gender-specific bathrooms. The bathroom had 2 toilet stalls, 2 sinks, and 2 showers, so going during peak season might mean a wait. The rooms each have their own climate control and windows that open to let in that fresh mountain air and hear the wildlife. The beds were comfortable and the room had everything I needed.
  
  The buildings are all fully green-built and eco-friendly; but they aren't quiet. There was constant noise of some sort from the buildings' systems, so I never had the pure quiet of the wilderness, where the only sounds I hear are the wind in the trees and the sounds of nature and wildlife. That was disappointing. As well, inside the buildings, as mentioned in another review, is not quiet. Use the earplugs the Center so thoughtfully provides. The walls are paper-thin and you hear your neighbors snoring, coughing, etc. as well as every single time a door opens and shuts (as they're spring-loaded and close with a bang) and every time the bathroom door opens and shuts, the hand dryers in the bathroom, the toilets flushing. And I was there with all adults, all of whom were quiet.
  
  The food is pretty incredible! The first night we had a salad bar with many delicious, organic, and local vegetables, a number of toppings and dressings, as well as jasmine rice and beef with peppers and onions (there were also vegan and vegetarian entrees available). Dessert was bread pudding with a plum topping -- delicious. There were a number of organic loose-leaf teas, bagged teas, coffee, and water to drink. Everything was so fresh and scrumptious. Breakfast the next morning was equally impressive: fresh blueberries and Grek yogurt, scrambled dairy-free eggs, an egg, cheese, and vegetable scramble, roasted potatoes, sausages, and gluten-free oatmeal with a variety of toppings: raisins, dates, brown sugar, fruits. Everything was delectable.
  
  Some stuff they don't tell you, but I wish they had because it's very useful to know: the parking lot is quite a ways from the Center, and all uphill with lots of steep stairs. However, once you check in, you can drive up from the parking lot and temporarily park by the office to bring your gear up to your lodge, then drive back down and park your car in the parking lot for the duration of your stay.
  
  There are also carts for wheeling your gear to/from your lodge to your car! I did not know this until I saw a neighbor with a cart upon check-out, loading up their gear. The carts are by the office, and there is an ADA-friendly trail with no stairs that leads from the office to the lodges. I sure wish I had known about the carts and the wheelchair-accessible trail when I was unloading my gear and carting it up to the lodge! Would have helped a ton.
  
  Lastly, if you have any questions, ASK. I found that the staff and students in residence seemed to assume everyone had been there before and/or magically knew everything by osmosis, so didn't need to tell us. Customer service doesn't really exist; they don't seem to care. Would have saved a lot of time and frustration if I had asked some questions about things I didn't know, as it was my first visit. For example, there was a sign on the gate that said check-in was in the dining hall; I went to the (empty) dining hall, and a student told me no, check-in is in the office. Also, I received incorrect information from one of the employees as to where and what time orientation was, almost causing me to miss my trip. Again, the employees didn't seem to care. Environmental learning and customer service are not mutually exclusive.

  response / report this review
• Kevin Choy

  04 September 2016

  Great staff, facilities crystal clear emerald waters and what a great relaxing educational family weekend should be!

  response / report this review
• Pola Kelley

  06 August 2016

  I have had the pleasure of attending two retreats at the North Cascade Environmental Learning Center on Diablo Lake. The staff is excellent, the cooks wonderful and the food fresh and tasty, the four bunk room may take you back to your childhood camp days, but there is something fun about that. Last time rowed as part of an 18 man crew up Diablo Lake nearly to Ross Dam, what a trek, what a view, great canoe. To say Diablo Lake is a reservoir is like saving a diamond is a hunk of carbon. This is without a doubt one of the most beautiful lakes anywhere. The jade color will blow your mind and those at the center will certainly tell you why its that color. Go, enjoy, and come back refreshed.

  response / report this review
• Xiphon Roundy

  27 July 2016

  A lovely place to have a conference. The food was delicious and the staff was nice, but the walls in the dorms were very thin, which was a problem if there was anyone talking in the next room over.

  response / report this review
• Joanne DeMark

  08 September 2015

  Peaceful, reflective, good nature walks, nice facilities, good healthy food.

  response / report this review