On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
PaulB
Welcome to stage 6 of “Washington’s Ultimate Road Trip,” the Cascade Loop. Today, we’ll be visiting a town called Winthrop. Like Leavenworth, this is very self-consciously a tourist town, one that embraces an old western mining town theme. It helps that it was, in fact, an old western mining town at one point. Two rivers meet near the town: the Chewuch River, which comes from the north, and the Methow River, which comes from the northwest. We’ll also be paying a visit to the nearby Pearrygin Lake State Park.
Winthrop has one small claim to fame, in that it is one of the least light-polluted locations in the state of Washington. Some sites even claim that you can find some of the darkest skies in the lower 48 states, ranking as a “2” on the Bortle scale. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take advantage of this as a) I’m a morning person and I can’t stay awake late, and b) moonlight and cloudy skies would have blocked my stargazing abilities, anyway. Someday….
Note: You can see full-size versions of these photos here.
A view of the Methow River, with the Cascade Mountains off in the distance. This is a view from the center of a rather elaborate suspension bridge built for pedestrians.
Another picture from the same location, but slightly more to the east, which allows you to see that this is where the two rivers meet. If you think that the colors of the rivers don’t perfectly match, you’re right, as a later picture will show.
Winthrop’s main street. You can see the kind of ambiance they were going for in these storefronts.
And even more with this picture and the one following.
This is the bridge I was standing on earlier and you can really see how the two rivers are running side by side rather than fully mixing, even though the intersection is a few hundred feet upstream.
These next few pictures are from Pearrygin Lake State Park. The remote regions of the park are listed as prime stargazing sites. It’s a gorgeous park and one that I wouldn’t mind going back to visit again.
Lapassionara
Lovely! Thanks for sharing.
Baud
Very pretty.
OzarkHillbilly
Nice trip, thanx for the tips.
JPL
I’ve really enjoyed this trip, and would love to see this part of the country. I’m an east coast person at heart though.
Scuffletuffle
Beautiful place and a fun town to visit…I love it!
opiejeanne
I think the mountain in the background of the last photo might be Mount Shuksan.
Torrey
I echo what JPL said: the East Coast is where I feel most at home. But taking this trip virtually with you has been wonderful, and now I really want to do the Cascade Loop. Thank you for the pictures and the commentary.
eclare
Absolutely gorgeous.
PaulB
Thank you for the kind words. Personally, I like the descriptions and personal information that other OTR posters have provided, so I tried to do the same. It makes it feel more like I’m living the journey with them.
We’re only halfway done with this journey, but I know that WG wants to space them out a bit, so I don’t know when the next episode(s) will be posted. Next up will be pictures from the North Cascades Scenic Highway, followed by pictures from the second garden I visited, the Ladder Creek Falls and Garden in Newhalem, which has perhaps the oddest history of the four I visited on this trip.
A side note to Almost Retired, who will be taking this trip himself shortly: I would dearly love to see a set of OTR posts from you documenting your own journey. You will undoubtedly take side trips that I didn’t take, see things that I didn’t see, and provide your own unique view. Also, if your trip takes you to the western part of the Loop, on Whidbey Island, I can recommend side trips to Meerkerk Gardens, GreenBank Farm, and a day trip via ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor. I hope you and Mrs. Almost Retired have a wonderful trip.
Julie
Nice photos! I live about 9 miles up-valley from Winthrop. There are quite a few retired professionals like me who live here in the Methow Valley. There are also many second homes. The attraction is not the Western-themed town but the fact that the area is known for both spectacular scenery and trail-based recreation. In the winter, Methow Trails grooms over 200 km of cross-country ski trails.
The Methow Valley is a special place. We have no traffic lights (the nearest traffic light is 50 miles away), no fast-food restaurants and no Starbucks. We do however have many amenities including a high-end coffee shop (Blue Star coffee), many excellent restaurants, a brewery, a pub, a fitness center and a new and amazing library in Winthrop funded in part by donations from locals.
There is a lot of income inequality in the valley and a big problem with affordable housing for local workers.
Wapiti
That was a nice travelogue. We’ve been out to Winthrop a number of times and you really captured the beauty of the place.
There’s also a smokejumper base to the south of town. They give little tours. The US Forest Service has some serious professionals.
Dan B
@opiejeanne: The snowy mountain is Gardner Mountain. It’s 8,898 feet and very prominent from many locations near Winthrop.
stinger
Wow — this must be one of the best Cascade Loop sets yet — how gorgeous! I love Where Two Rivers Meet, and especially the photo showing that they meet but don’t mingle.
Are people really attracted to fake touristy stores?
Thanks for these, and I look forward to more!
Dan B
I and a friend of mine took my parents over the North Cascades Highway the year it opened. My friend and I went out to a bar (the only bar?) to have a beer. The bartender and my friend and I were the only guys who’d had a bath that day (week?). Winthrop looked like it does today but much smaller. The sidewalks were wood and all the buildings were weathered. Today it seems that every house is a B&B for cross country skiers. North of Winthrop is a road that is the highest in the state for passenger vehicles, Hart’s Pass, Slate Peak. Glacier clad peaks tower for many miles to the west, including Mount Baker, a ten thousand foot volcano. To the east are big broad peaks like the Rockies. The road is narrow one lane around a cliff. It’s fine otherwise but scary for the several hundred yards on the cliff face.
Dan B
@stinger: Winthrop, unlike Leavenworth, dies not feel fake. It’s what the town looked like before the highway. It was very isolated as were the nearby towns of Twisp and Mazama.
stinger
@Dan B: Perhaps some day I can see both towns! :-) Thanks again!
Wapiti
@Dan B: Yeah, our last trip to Winthrop we looked through the mining museum. There are a lot of artifacts from the mining up around Slate Peak. The mines were back across the Cascades (in Whatcom County, I believe), and the easy way to the mines was through Winthrop and Mazama, which were on the back end of nowhere. The North Cascade Highway opened up a lot of territory, for half the year anyway.
Dan B
@Wapiti: The mines near Slate Peak are visible from the Pacific Crest Trail north of Hart’s Pass. The first few miles are on meadows with some tarns nearby. The Crest trail to the south is through talus and boulder slopes. Pro tip, do not bring Jack Russell Terrier. The talus and boulders are filled with singing Pikas, Rock Rabbits, as cute as possible and irresistible to rafters like Jack Russell Terriers. To the east of Hart’s Pass a trail descends into a basin of Meadows and streams surrounded by cliffs and filled with fat whistling Marmots. This trail descends into a broad valley in the Pasayten Wilderness, 70 air miles of high peaks.
But, Hart’s Pass’ meadows are staging for firefighting and helicopters. Everyone else is not permitted. Otherwise it’s a paradise for hikers and people who love high meadows and critters.
Dan B
@Wapiti: It took the same time to drive to Spokane as it did to Winthrop before the highway. I badgered one of my employees into going to Slate Peak. She hated me. The next weekend she dropped off her parents’ luggage, visiting from PA, and drove them to Slate Peak.