Our trip to the North Cascades was short, sweet, a bit cool, but ultimately we had some nice weather overall (warm enough for shorts the one day!!) But you can never schedule around the weather especially in the pacific northwest apparently! This has been an unusually wet and cool spring for that area! If you did not read up on our pre-trip preparations Check out my previous post here.
Our trip began as we landed in Seattle around noon and picked up our rental car. We ate lunch around Snoqualmie and then headed to Snoqualmie Falls.
It was a very wet first day but we had great weather after. Rain pants were one of our best investments lol. Our new hiking packs were all put to the test during this adventure!
The drive towards Leavenworth was long and with the rain we didn't get to see a lot of the landscapes. Leavenworth is a nice bavarian town full of breweries! We were not looking for beer at this point but some coffee so we could continue our drive!
Our trip continued east and then north towards Lake Chelan and then up through the Methow Valley, which was a pretty area! Lots of orchards were seen along the road and the Columbia River. Finally we arrived at the Chewuch Inn in Winthrop and relaxed for the evening around 9 pm. What a long day!
The next morning, we headed towards North Cascade National Park by driving north and west. We stopped at Washington Pass and had to hike the road a bit since they had not finished plowing the snow on the one side. We did not get to explore too much since there was snow and you could not see the trail very well. However the views were simply stunning no matter which way you turned.
I told Shane to hold out his hand like he had food and the gray jay's came flying in! The Gray Jay is a species of bird that is not afraid to snatch up food from you. In this case they thought we had food lol. I wasn't sure how I felt about a bird landing on me but it was great!
Diablo Lake was showing it's jade colors in the sunlight. I even caught a rainbow towards the end of the lake as we were driving by. We did a trail called Thunder Knob to the lake and it was one of my favorites. There was a rushing stream at the beginning of the trail that made me a bit nervous that it could flood the area!
A quick stop along the main highway led us to this waterfall called Gorge Creek.
The following day we rented a boat at Ross Lake Resort and it was absolutely gorgeous! Shane was in charge of running the boat and keeping us above the water 😊 We got one of the faster motors of the bunch apparently! It was exciting to try new beers on this trip - we had Rainier and even one from British Columbia in Canada called Kokanee Glacier Beer. I forgot the 3rd one we bought but I may search for it.
We got out of the boat and explored one of the shore areas a bit and to eat our packed lunch and drink those beers. Our soft cooler was heavy and not fun to carry on the trail head to get here lol. Shane and Justyn would switch off since we packed too many beers!
I hope to one day stay at their floating cabins! We had nice weather but with the wind on the lake it was chilly! Apparently their wait list is over 21,000 people 🤣 We saw a lot of cascades on the mountain sides as we boated around the lake. We got super close to the Canadian border!
Our last day at North Cascades, we saw a black bear on the Baker Lake Trail which was awesome because we were safe inside our car lol. He/She was digging up and finding something tasty!
Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan (elevations 10,781 ft and 9,131 ft.) were not quite visible on the Baker Lake Trail but we saw some of them. That is the funny thing about mountains too, when they say they create their own weather, they really do! Mount Baker is a popular ski area. I waited patiently for the clouds to break but they decided to hide the mountains while we were there.
Overall I feel like this park is a bit of a hidden gem!
After our time in the North Cascades we headed towards Whidbey Island to go to Deception State Park.
Here is our trip itinerary for this portion of our trip:
June 9 Thursday
nonstop flight Alaskan airlines
Pick up rental car
Travel route i90
Snoqualmie falls Trail
Leavenworth - quick stop
I-90 to Hwy 97 Blewett pass, along the Columbia River Gorge up to Winthrop.
Stay at chewuch inn
June 10 Friday - North Cascades National Park
Breakfast at hotel, Check out from Chewuch Inn
Grocery store stop
Travel to N. Cascades
Washington pass overlook
Diablo lake overlook
Thunder knob Trail
Lunch /dinner at upriver tap and grille
Check in Grace Haven cabin near Rockport
June 11 Saturday - North Cascades National Park
Breakfast at cabin
Travel to Ross Lake - 10 am reservation
Ross dam trail to Ross Lake resort
Bring lunch on boat ride
After boat ride:
Trail of the cedars
Ladder creek falls
Dinner: marblemount diner
Travel back to cabin - Grace Haven
June 12 Sunday - North Cascades National Park
Breakfast at cabin
Check out from Grace Haven Cabin
Baker lake trail in N. Cascades to Anderson Point, saw a bear!
Travel to Anacortes
Lunch: at Rosario Beach (packed PBJ's)
Rosario head trail 1.5 MI, 206 ft, 39 min
Lighthouse point and lottie, 2.4 MI 341 ft, 1 hr 3 min
Drive up to Mt. Erie for sunset
Dinner: Thai place naung mai
Check in: ship harbor inn
We had on our list to check out additional trails but due to snow cover we avoided them to be safe. This included Cutthroat Lake, Rainy Lake, Maple Pass, and Blue Lake. All of the hikes we did listed above were on the easier side and very accessible.
Washington is so beautiful and we can't wait to visit again in the future! Now proceed to read about our Olympic National Park post ! Click here for our Mt. Rainier post. Click here for our Columbia River Gorge/Mt. St Helen's post! Click here for the Deception Pass/Whale watch post!
Cheers!
Kommentare