#Gates50States

The biggest challenge in our #Gates50States adventure is saying, “No,” to so many neat/cool/unique places and events and attractions in each state.  There just isn’t enough time to take in all that every state has to offer.  Nowhere has this been more true to date for us than Washington state.  What an amazing place, with a great diversity of locations, climates, environments, and… just stuff.  In Part 1, we covered our experiences on the Olympic Peninsula, and Part 2 addressed our time at Mt. Rainier.

With Mt. Rainier behind us and on the way to North Cascades, we stopped for lunch at a place very worthy of a shoutout: The Stilly Diner in Arlington.  Friendly service, a very family-friendly menu, really good food and even better milkshakes… we enjoyed our lunch.

We all loved Olympic, and I really enjoyed Rainier, but North Cascades was the Barber Motorsports experience of Washington for us.  (For those new to the blog, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Alabama so thoroughly surprised us as the highlight of our trip that now whatever proves to surprise us as a highlight we refer to as a “Barber Motorsports experience.”)  We had okay expectations going in, and we left stunned and amazed.  In fact, until this trip, we’d never heard of the Methow Valley, yet after spending a few days in the area, it’s on the list of places to consider purchasing a vacation home.

With kids in tow and no camping equipment, much of the park wasn’t going to be accessible to us on this trip, but between the accessible trails within the park boundary as well as the adjacent National Forest land and trails, this place is an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise.  We’ll let the photos speak for Blue Lake… and also tell you the photos don’t even do it justice.

The mountain views, the alpine lakes, the whole rain shadow thing, the beautiful waterfalls, the sloping meadows… we just couldn’t get enough of the scenery.

It’s also important to point out that we went in peak season yet we encountered only a couple of families on the Blue Lake Trail (5 miles) and another small handful of hikers on Sourdough (11+ miles, below)… that was it.  This just wasn’t a crowded place.  Granted, we arrived at trailheads early.  But for a national park with only one road cutting through any of it limiting any non-backcountry hikers to a relative few trail locations, this sure beat the stories we’ve heard of the crowds in Banff and Jasper, and you get very similar scenery.  So if you want to see North American alpine, and you don’t want to fight the crowds, go to North Cascades.

Speaking of seeing North American alpine, Grandma Laura took the kids for a day of swimming at the community pool in Winthrop while the rest of us climbed Sourdough Mountain.

The 5 miles up was a trek, with very few views and rapid elevation gain for the first ~2.5 miles.  After that, things opened up, and while it was still a workout of a climb, the views kept getting better and better.

The trip down… wow.  Our legs were shot at the end, but we were so glad we’d done it.  The only other time we’ve felt like we might just die on the side of a mountain was our hike around Quilatoa in Ecuador.  That day, on the side of that volcano, I really wondered if my life might end.  The strategy became: just keep putting one foot in front of the other.  And on the side of Sourdough, as we descended, the strategy became: just keep putting one foot in front of the other… and make sure not not fall forward and smash your forehead on a rock.

Winthrop‘s chamber of commerce has certainly capitalized on the western and cowboy theme, and they’ve done it very well.  We strolled around the little town square area a couple of times and enjoyed some ice cream at Sheri’s.

I found a cabin with an adjacent guest house for all of us in Mazama on the east side of the park.  We loved the place, and Ryan especially liked the absence of light pollution.  Mazama is just plain dark.  And we loved that.

We hauled it from Mazama to Seattle to catch our flight home, concluding a wonderful visit to a truly incredible state. Clearly, we didn’t even get to Seattle, the many islands, wine country or even Eastern Washington! Definitely on the short list for places we’ll visit again as time allows.