North Cascade Mountains & Winthrop

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, so since we had not been to Winthrop in many, many years we decided to go. Since you drive over the North Cascade Mountains to eastern WA, it is a beautiful drive and the mountains are more spectacular driving east to west, so we just went straight to Winthrop and enjoyed stopping for the mountains on the way back. It was an all day trip and boy was Cookie tired and hungry when we got home!

Winthrop is a town built for tourists. It is only about a block long with boardwalks (wood) for sidewalks and tourists. The store fronts are facades with a western theme and tourists. The shops are all souvenir and t-shirt shops for tourists. We did find a sandwich shop that had good, huge sandwiches for a reasonable price considering all the tourists. Then we indulged in ice cream cones along with all the tourists since it was quite warm there. Did I mention this place is for tourists? Yep, and there were plenty of them!

It was a beautiful drive across the mountains. These mountains are known as the North American Alps with glaciers and lakes. This road closes for snow usually in Nov and doesn't reopen until April or May depending on the snow and when they can get it cleared and it will remain cleared. There are lots of viewpoints and it well worth seeing if you are in this area. From Concrete (west side) to Marblemont the roads follows the Skagit River and is where the salmon spawn which brings hundreds of Bald Eagles to feed for the winter. Then you begin to climb and just before Newhalem there is National Park visitor center with lots of information. Then you pass Ross Lake and really begin to climb up to Rainy Pass (wonder why that name in WA) and then on to Washington Pass, the highest on this road at 5,500'. You then begin a quick decent into the Methow Valley and much warmer temperatures, sometimes 100+. Finally you are in Winthrop. Enjoy the pictures!