Being back in Seattle is wonderful, our friends Peter and Rysia welcomed us back into their home with open arms. A few weeks after we settled in we headed for a trip to the Northern Cascades.
Our journey took us over to Lake Chelan and the wonderful little town of Chelan. We pitched our tent right by the lake and watched the sunset over the mountains. We had some Marmots visiting us and they are extremely cute, it seemed we had a family of four keeping us company. They sometimes came right up to the table to check out what the silly humans are up to.
Lake Chelan is fed by streams from the Cascade Range and the Chelan Mountains, Lake Chelan has a maximum depth of 1,486 ft (453 m) making it the third deepest lake in the country and the 26th deepest in the world. The water is crystal clear and often has a mirror effect reflecting the surrounding Chelan Mountains around it.
-An elk visiting us
The next morning we headed closer to the source of the lake and up a mountain path, Marius drove me completely nutters, we had a cliff on the one side and a dead drop on the other on a narrow unpaved road heading up. My acrophobia kicked in and eventually I had forced him to turn around and head back down.
The views we got was amazing and in the photo below you can actually see the road we took up as well as Glacier Peak in the distance.
After our great trip, we headed to Karma Vineyards for a glass of Chardonnay from the Chelan Valley.
The Wells dam feeds into Lake Chelan and also host a hydroelectric power plant. In the picture, Marius and I are standing in front of one of the turbine runners of the plant. Each generating unit at the dam is housed in its own silo and weight 450 tonnes.
As we were heading more north and into the Northern Cascades we stopped over in Winthrop. Feeling like we were transported back into the Old West and that a cowboy might just be lurking around the corner we stopped in the main street in Winthrop. Located on the North Cascades Scenic Byway in Washington’s magnificent Methow Valley, Winthrop is home to four dramatic seasons, funky festivals, classical music and superb dining and our favourite the local brewery.
Setting up our tent at the KOA (Kampground of America) we opened our growler and had a few beers while Marius got the fire going for our steaks. A grey old lady was walking he super tiny little dog nearby and with the hoarsest voice ever, It was like grinding tow pieces of sandpaper together she asked “Oh my god, are you sleeping in that little thing?” referring to our 2 person tent.
After some quick introductions she invited us over to her (Connie) and her husbands (Frank) RV for a drink and a tour, It is huge a 5 slider with a full sitting room, kitchen bathroom and even a study. Frank used to work as a crane operator at the Seattle ports and they stay in Enumclaw, just south of Seattle.
Connie told us in her special voice “We are party people”, well we think she might have partied a bit too much in her younger days.
The next morning Marius and I hiked up to the peak of Patterson Mountain, the views from there are breathtaking.
After spending a few nights with our Party people friends we continued down on the North Cascades Highway, the snow was getting thicker and thicker.
On our way, we got really great views of Liberty Bell Mountain which part of the Liberty Bell Group, a group of spires which also includes Concord Tower, Lexington Tower, North Early Winters Spire, and South Early Winters Spire.
The Northern Cascades are very beautiful and such an exciting place to visit.
