A Smokey September In The North Cascades........

I have been slowly working through old pictures on my hard drive....trying to clear up space and complete some hiking trips that I took this last year....I came across this set of pictures I took of our drive back from the Cascade Pass Trail....The smoke from the fires around Wenatchee, Pateros's Billygoat Mountain and the Methow area were really starting to push up into the North Cascades....One of the great things about the drive through the North Cascades is it seems like at every corner and turn in the road you have views of mountains...the views from the road alone are very spectacular....makes for an enjoyable journey home even if its a long day....It's hard to explain the thrill and fascination I have with the North Cascades....each time we travel back and forth from trail head to trail head...each visit is different and beautiful...can't wait to return....I am very envious of folks that ski or even snowmobile this time of year up and down hwy 20....On our way to the Cascade Pass Trail head I noticed that there was a North Cascades National Park visitors center in the Newhalem area...so we made a detour off the road to go and explore and visit it.....I have drove by many times but apparently the scenery is too distracting to see the sign....Lots of information and a sweet little gift area....I will make sure we return to visit with my nieces and newphew when we are back in the area..... Yesterday winter decided to come visit us again....brought a little bit of new snow with it....made things nice and white again...I hear rain is possibly before the weekend...this should make road conditions all kinds of fun....

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Maple Pass Trail, North Cascade Hwy

I'm still here.....Times have been busy. Christmas time's a'coming.....Vacation happened, senior picture taking going on, the rain came, it started snowing in the Cascades, more rain, then it snowed some more, pulled out the snowshoes, the pass was shut down for the weekend, Monday rolled around, the pass was closed for the season, surprise.....,felt sorry for myself since I didn't get to snowshoe up high before the pass got shut down, more beautiful snow up high, snowshoed for the 1st time this year, the dog loved it, lots of fun, Thanksgiving happened, houseful of family and friends, lots of good coffee & sweets, visiting and Turkey trotting around town a few times, Christmas time's getting closer, was able to get out and snowshoe in the Winthrop area, more fresh snow, need to go shopping, Christmas time's a'coming......I would rather go roll around in the snow, than fight the crowds shopping for gifts, but snowballs are ha...

North Cascades Hwy 20, Snowshoeing

Since we don't take snowshoeing very serious and it's just another way to get out in the great outdoors and have some fun, we snowshoe highway 20 from the parking area up the pass quiet often. It is a busy snowmobile area, but if you just be aware of whats going on around you, it is safe. There is so much room to have fun, snow covered slopes, snowshoe up the road, or venture off the road. It is a gradual climb up the road, we never get very far before we run out of gas and are ready to head back down. I would love to some day take a snowmobile to the top of the pass...and snowshoe....I keep dreaming. This is a easy location to just get out, stretch your legs and enjoy the fresh winter air. I have always been a little bit apprehensive about snowshoeing where there is snowmobile activities, but so far we have met only super polite folks and very respectful to keep their distance of folks snowshoeing.

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...

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