Patterson Mountain Trail.....Winthrop Washington

As we traveled up the Methow Valley the sky was bright blue with lots of clouds...the closer we got to Winthrop the stormier the weather looked....lots of dark clouds moving around and building up.....we decided as long as it wasn't raining really hard we would go ahead and hike.....The Patterson Mountain Trail starts across the road from the actual lake, nice parking area....climbs just a little ways up the side of the mountain, until you pass through two gates depending on which direction you take.....the trail makes a loop, from there the flower show really started and continued the rest of the trail.....at one point you have to climb up and over a wood ladder secured to a tree to get over a barb wire fence....pretty creative way to pass over the fence...would be very interesting to watch the runners that were going to hit the trail on Sunday complete this section....the Balsam roots, Sunflowers were starting to decline...but still plenty to get good shots of and get your fill of their beautiful yellow blooms....lots of lupine spread out among them, a nice variety of parsley's...and mustard's....the flowers were pretty fantastic and just what I was looking for after 3 hikes that were two early for much in the flower department....the hike is fairly easy.....a few steep inclined switch backs...the views of the Winthrop valley floor are very wide and expansive...nice view of some Mountains likewise....a little on the cloudy side over the mountains....as we reached the top the sky's started to break up and show some blue...it was over all a fantastic little hike...GPS tracked the trail at about 3 miles....we decided to skip the extra section out to the view point....a very pleasant hike...worth doing again for spring flowers and a great view of the valley floor......

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Echo Basin, Eastern Washington

Echo Basin was our last early spring hike in the Eastern Washington area. We were planning to hike the Frenchman Coulee side that heads toward the waterfall but changed our mind due to the amount of cars parked at the trail head. So down the road just a little ways we went to hike the Echo Basin trail. Even with a early start the sun was way too bright, not hot, just bright. We hiked up the jeep trail that starts on the left hand side of the road as your facing the Columbia River. Didn't seem like a real exciting trail till we reached the sand dunes, which put us closer to the rock walls. Up and over the sand dunes and on up a goat trail to get above the walls. Without really knowing were we were going we just winged it. Lots of faint trails and trails in the sand, hard to know which was the true trail. The rock walls are huge and fascinating, the columns are even more interesting up close. We hiked until we had a view looking down into Echo Basin, and a nice look at th

Cutthroat Trail.......Snowshoeing North Cascades Highway

I have a confession to make, I have been having some winter blues. Not sure if they can be officially called winter blues due to we have had little to no winter. I have been very impatiently waiting for the snow to arrive, it comes, blows through, makes the ground white, then its gone. The last few days we have been sitting at temperatures in the 40's. What is up with winter. One thing I can say for sure is I am very thankful for the few trips we made up highway 20 before the silver star gate was closed. Our trip to Cutthroat Trail was back in November, when we had visions of winter coming to the valley very soon. The snow was nice and fluffy and deep. Pleasant day to get out and enjoy it, one of those days where your not sure if the clouds where going to allow the blue sky to show it self or not. We parked right off the highway with a couple of other cars and Snowshoed up the road to the trail head. Wasn't very long and more hikers, cross country skiers, and furry

Looking For Mountain Views....................

Since I couldn't get anybody to go snowshoeing with me this last weekend....I went on a drive and took pictures.....It was a lovely day...lots of variation in the clouds...started down on the Columbia River in Pateros and continued on down towards Chelan...stopped at the park...which has a great view of the mountains...then on up around Manson...drove as many roads as I could looking for the best view of the mountains....drove a couple of roads I have never been on....what a festive little town Manson is right now....Drove on up towards Echo Ridge trail area...roads got a little on the icy side up in that area....then found my way back home....now I have a camera card or two loaded with pictures...plus basketball pictures.....lots of computer time...The season is moving right along...lots of new snow in the mountains...Can't wait to get out there and play.

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