Skip to main content

Whistler Canyon Trail-Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail


























Saturday turned into a good day weather wise....not a lot of color or clouds in the sky on a sad note....Makes pictures look like there is no sky.....nice temperatures...about 41 degrees give or take....late Friday night we looked through the Washington Trails site looking for somewhere in the Okanogan Highlands area to hike...not sure what our options where and what elevation we were looking at for snow cleared trails.....I had found this trail information last year on Whistler Canyon Trail close to Oroville, but just hadn't had the time to check it out....looked like a good place to see some wildlife....the trail head is easy to find....Follow Hwy 97 through Tonasket and up towards Oroville it is prior to Oroville nice brown marker sign stating trail 1/4 mile on the right....not sure if it list the trail head name on the sign.....I think it is at mile marker 329....the road has white rock looks like a driveway, it splits right off the highway...stay to the left....wide open parking....appears very new...lots of space for horse trailers and cars.....the trail is a fairly easy grade up...switches back and fourth to get you in and around private land that it backs up to....the trail head sign states that it is part of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail....The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail is 1200 miles, running from the continental divide to the Pacific ocean....we just hiked a short distance on it.....lots to see...very well laid out trail....very new and fresh....the creek had broke its dam in one area and was flowing down the trail....very easy to get around....lots of fresh moose droppings....we didn't get to see any wildlife....but lots of signs....maybe next visit we will get to see something....we almost made it to Black Diamond Lake trail before we decided we would wait till the snow completely melts.....lots of lovely natural rock walls....wildflowers will be showing soon...the moss is nice and bright green....the trail in spots is easy and a two year old managed to take a break from her pack and hike some on her own....made for a great start to the hiking season....and a nice opportunity to explore the Okanogan Highlands....get a taste and plan for the next adventure...can't wait for Craig Romano's book Day Hiking Eastern Washington comes out.....I plan to hike more trails this year in and around the Okanogan Highlands....need to get busy studying trails and the area.



Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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.
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

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