Escapades in the North Cascades

So, 2 days to explore the North Cascades. Seems I can take it nice and easy. The only accommodation I could find was pretty much at the east end of the North Cascades Scenic highway, but I seem to have lucked out anyway (planning be damned!). More of this later.

The plan was to drive through Winthrop (my base for the night), dip my toes into the cascades and then head back to base so that I could have a full day driving the North Cascade Scenic Highway tomorrow. Seemed like a plan. Although as I started driving into the Mountains, the pull to carry on or divert to more obscure places grew strong. In particular, there are lots of trails which led up to the Pacific Crest Trail and I was tempted to take a look, although not tempted enough to undertake a steep climb in 95 degrees. The Pacific Crest Trail I think is the gold standard of US trails. It runs from Mexico to Canada through some very challenging terrain. Appalachian Trail? For amateurs. Maybe one for retirement… if I get considerably fitter and more wilderness savvy! Or maybe the Pennine Way is more my speed. Or something with fewer hills.

So taking the lightweight tourist route I spent some time at Washington Pass and Rainy Lake

Spotted this fella on the way to the lake, so focussed on his task that he didn’t seem to mind me watching.

And then headed back to Winthrop. Winthrop has leant into the frontier tourist thing but is non the worse for it. The cabin turns out to be great, although sadly lacking the washer dryer that for some reason I had imagined it had. I am in definite need of some laundry at this point, so nothing for it but hand wash and then hang shirts, pants and socks out on the patio and over the hot tub cover. There goes the neighbourhood!

Onwards to explore, source early tea & drink. I have gotten into the habit of eating very little during the day and having an early meal in the evening. If it is somewhere with nice beer, so much the better as this means I can have a drink early and be fit to drive the next day. The choices seemed to be : the local brew pub IPA specialist or an artisan cider outlet. The latter was a 15 minute walk, the former a few hundred yards from the cabin. I think we can predict how this went.

Question now is : Do I have enough insect repellent apparatus to chance sitting out on the porch without suffering horrible consequences..?

Well it could be worth it, given the volume of deer traffic passing behind the cabin. This one was oddly confused by a sign. I suspect that the sign was being mistaken for another deer but was not responding to some cervine etiquette.

Second day and time to drive through the Cascades with a few detours en route for old growth forests, lakes, dams etc.

My first stop, by sheer blind luck was at some scenic view point which it turned out was of Mount Hozomeen with Desolation Peak in front of it. I must be attuned to the Tao today! You can't tell in the photo, but with binoculars you can actually make out the fire lookout where Kerouac spent a summer. That’s the Kerouac boxes ticked (at least as much as they are going to be on this trip!)

(Hozomeen is the double peak and Desolation is the one in front)

Onwards to a brief walk in old growth forest and then a hike down to the Ross Dam (this coinciding with the England game, but as I have no signal of any type on phone or radio, might as well be chalking up some views; I may now have to adjust plans for Sunday…). I almost booked some accommodation at the Lake Ross resort. When the details suggested that to get to the houseboats on the lakes involved parking at a trail head and then carrying all of your stuff down the trail to catch a boat, it all sounded quite interesting, if something of a logistical nightmare. Having now walked that trail, I very much made the right decision to book elsewhere! I also was very much not expecting to get caught in a traffic Jam,

Back on the road and another brief stop at the spectacular Diablo Lake

before heading on through to Concrete, a friendly small town, but I think that the claim to be the centre of the known universe is a little bold. Off to the local hostelry for some food. I’m trying to get over my English reserve and force myself to sit at bars with the locals and was rewarded with some tips on places to visit. The ice caves sound great, but not easy to get to - pretty much a day hike in itself. Will have to make some choices … there is just too much damn stuff to see!