North Cascades National Park is a US national park in the state of Washington, established October 2, 1968. Covering more than 500,000 acres (200,000 ha), it features the rugged mountain peaks of the North Cascades Range, the most expansive glacial system in the contiguous United States, and vast forests with the highest degree of flora biodiversity of any US national park. It is bisected by the Skagit River, which flows through Ross Lake National Recreation Area. The region was first settled by Paleo-Indian Native Americans; when white explorers and fur trappers arrived, Skagit tribes lived there. In the 1920s several dams were built in the Skagit River valley to generate hydroelectric power. The park has one of the earliest and longest- lasting research programs dedicated to studying climate change, focusing on glacial retreat. With almost all of the park protected as wilderness, there are few structures, roads or other improvements. Heavy snows and a high risk of avalanches severely limit visitation in the winter.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Cascades_National_Park

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1835:

Mexican dragoons dispatched to disarm settlers at Gonzales, Mexican Texas, encountered stiff resistance from a Texian militia in the Battle of Gonzales, the first armed engagement of the Texas Revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gonzales

1928:

Spanish priest Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei (logo pictured), a worldwide organization of the Catholic Church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei

1941:

World War II: Nazi German forces began Operation Typhoon, an all-out offensive to begin the three-month-long Battle of Moscow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow

1990:

A hijacked airliner collided with two other planes while attempting to land at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China, resulting in a total of 128 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Guangzhou_Baiyun_airport_collisions

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Chanakya: (India) A shrewd politician or, in general, a cunning person; a Machiavelli. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Chanakya

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

In childhood we live under the brightness of immortality — heaven is as near and actual as seaside. Behind the complicated details of the world stand the simplicities: God is good, the grown-up man or woman knows the answer to every question, there is such a thing as truth, and justice is as measured and faultless as a clock. Our heroes are simple: they are brave, they tell the truth, they are good swordsmen and they are never in the long run really defeated. That is why no later books satisfy us like those which were read to us in childhood — for those promised a world of great simplicity of which we knew the rules, but the later books are complicated and contradictory with experience; they are formed out of our own disappointing memories…   --Graham Greene https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Graham_Greene