Skip to main content

Patterson Mountain Trail, Winthrop Washington


Mother's day weekend in the past we have spent it at the 49er's Day Parade in Winthrop. This year the sunflowers were at their prime, some past it with the heavy rain and wind that came through earlier in the week. So we made plans to make a very full day. Hike, parade watching, drive up Hwy 20 to see the snow level. We headed up the Methow Valley early to hike Patterson Mountain Trail. The trail heads up the side of the mountain across from the parking lot with the lake at your back. A Discovery Pass is required if parking in the larger parking area. In a short distance you have the option to go right or left, we decided to take the trail that heads to the right. Hiking on a time limit is not always the best and we knew that we had to be in Winthrop no later than 10:00 AM to get a parking spot and that would be pushing it with out walking a long ways to down town. The flowers were fantastic, they escaped most of the storm and were in fine shape, the color that morning was very vivid. The trail is in great shape, the side we headed up gradually climbs, but nothing difficult. Plenty of places to stop and admire the mountains and great views of the valley. Rain was in the forecast so we had clouds building up around the white capped mountains in the distance. After you reach the top you have a wonderful view of Winthrop and looking up towards Mazama, then the trail heads down hill to make the loop. Love the ladder that gets you over the barb wire fence, very creative. I neglected to get a descent picture of it. Jumped a couple of deer in the meadow on the way down, they didn't stick around for pictures. This is a beautiful spring hike, a great place to see lots of flowers and not a difficult trail, with great views. We made the loop in plenty of time, even with all the numerous stops for all the beautiful flowers. Had enough time before the parade to eat breakfast at the Rocking Horse Bakery in Winthrop, wonderful fresh hot pizza, coffee and a sweet roll, before watching the parade.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Places We Can Go

Life goes on, things change, storms of life come and go.  One thing that always remains the same is the feeling and quiet peace I feel from being in the mountains.  This was a spur of the moment overnight trip.  It was so needed and such a beautiful time.  Left the house around 2:30 PM, traffic was so slow heading up Hwy 20, lots of folks heading out of Mazama.  Arrived at the trail head a few minutes before 4 PM, and we were off down the trail in a few minutes.  Three quarters of a mile down the trail a bee or some kind of flying ant decided to bite my nieces eye lid, talk about hysteria for a moment.   I was pretty sure our trip was over, but we were able to move on with a very cold creek soaked multipurpose face mask.  The sun was sinking fast and the wind was howling by the time we reached the top.  Made some quick decisions on the best place to park the tents, and we set up camp.  It was truly an incredible evening, hiked aroun...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yellow Jacket Sno-Park.......................

December 29th, 2012 came along with some beautiful weather in the Mazama area....broken blue skys and a nice 21 degrees.....with my little brother and his wife up visiting through the holiday season we ventured out to play in the snow.....We originally headed up to snowshoe the Cedar Creek trail....but Hwy 20 wasn't plowed past the first sign at the bottom.....and when we came across the Early Winters bridge we could see trucks and cars parked on both sides of the road....somewhere between 25-40 rigs.....lots of snowmobile trailers.....we decided that we needed to locate another snowshoeing spot with a little less traffic since my brother wanted to do a little snowboarding if possible......so we headed to Yellow Jacket Sno-Park....Large parking area with just a few vehicles parked....we strapped on our gear and headed up the trail....nice easy hike up a groomed snowmobile track....lots of places to step off the trail and explore...we pretty much stuck to the trail on the way up.....
Post a Comment
Read more

Not all trails are created equal

 Beautiful big views, abundance of flowers, snow capped mountains all around and singing birds.  I love this hike when the flowers are blooming. This is a hike you can do multiple times in the spring and there is always new flowers blooming.  The mountain views are incredible, a nice view of the valley floor looking up towards Mazama and back down towards Twisp.  So much to see, hear and enjoy.  This is the perfect hike for an evening adventure, not to long, a fairly easy hike, the birds are very active and keep you company as you make the loop.  These pictures are only from one side of the loop, I ran out of good light to complete it since I stopped for every flower along the way.  When the balsam root is blooming it is a beautiful display of golden flowers, intermixed with lupine and larkspur.  I have hiked this trail many times over the years and am always amazed by natures incredible beauty. ...
Post a Comment
Read more