Okanogan-Wenatchee NF, Washington

July 30, 2023

We left the official boundary of North Cascades National Park amidst cloudy skies, but at least we were not rained upon. Our destination was less than an hour and a half away, just outside the national park. Nature doesn't recognize map boundaries, so the scenery was just as spectacular (if not more so) on the other side of the dividing line.

Our destination was a first-come-first-serve Forest Service campground, and we easily found a nicely secluded spot that looked to have an adequate potential for solar exposure through the trees.

The deer were pretty friendly here

The creek down a trail behind our campsite

After lunch and taking a walk around the campground, we settled into an afternoon of do-nothingness, a totally legitimate prerogative of retired people.

Rick wasted spent much of the afternoon watching his solar controllers work hard to reach 100% charge

We woke up early the next morning to head to a trail that Julie had been looking forward to all year. While it's a tough call if it was better than the scenery at Mt. Baker a couple of weeks ago, the Maple Pass Loop trail definitely fell into the "spectacular" category (at about 8 miles and 2000ft of altitude gain). As usual, Julie had a hard time paring down the photos. If you don't care for mountain scenery, just scroll (and scroll, and scroll) past.

The drive to the trailhead was very scenic

The trail started immediately climbing through the forest

Soon we reached a clearing and got our first views

More climbing up in the forest

And now the good views start

Lake Ann

Finally at the top!

After a long leisurely lunch, we started the long trek down

Another vantage point of Lake Ann

Don't know the name of the little lake down below

Rainy Lake

After a time, we re-entered the forest and the downward descent accelerated in earnest. An eternity of relentless, steep and rocky switchbacks punished our knees. The glimpses we had of the highway down below never seemed to get much closer. 

As much as it might seem like we are complaining here, we do realize that this "drudgery" is much preferable to a day at the office 😉. 

Of course, the end of the trail is always reached one way or another, and we eventually found ourselves back in the parking lot.

The next day was a break from hiking, and we went to the nearby town of Winthrop. The town is themed as an old western town, and it looks like it would be fun to spend a weekend here, as it is very compact and walkable.

A rather substantial pedestrian bridge over the Methow River

The Methow River

Downtown Winthrop

A very out-of-focus shot of Julie's black licorice ice cream cone--it was yummy!

Cute bar stools at the outdoor eating area

Another very substantial pedestrian bridge. We were a bit baffled by the warning, though.

Was this the hazardous tree to worry about???

The next day we were ready for another hike--this time to Blue Lake (around 6 miles and 1000 ft. of altitude gain). The lake was beautiful, and it was interesting how it looked quite different, depending upon one's vantage point.

Not quite sure why the GPS flipped out and made our hike include some flying around . . .

Blue Lake

A nearby smaller lake

We had a bit of an adventure on Saturday. That afternoon, we had decided to throw on some water shoes and check out the Early Winters Creek trail behind our campsite. Julie was under the impression that we would walk along the (short) trail and splash a bit in the creek. Rick had more ambitious plans (or so Julie thinks - Rick was just more open to extending the plans). One thing led to another, and soon we found ourselves bushwhacking through the forest and walking through the creek for a few miles in search of a trail that allegedly intersected with the creek and led directly back to the campground.

The squiggly part is what we planned on, then were going to loop back on the trail directly back to the campground . . . .

We saw some pretty big cedar trees

Creepy looking tree roots that looked like snakes (We ended up seeing three real snakes)

When we got to the spot where the trail should have been according to the GPS, it simply wasn't there. We tried zigzagging a bit to where the trail should have been, but once again--no trail. Just lots of thick forest, downed logs, and three (harmless) snakes. We really didn't want to have to backtrack the way we came through the creek and jungle, so we opted to climb up the bluff of dense vegetation to a relatively close road. What a sight it must have been to see a middle aged couple emerge from the brush, climb over the guardrail, brush themselves off, and walk nonchalantly along the highway for 3 or 4 miles back to the campground. All in all, it was actually pretty fun, except perhaps for the final steep uphill mile of road to the campground.

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