Cascade Loop Drive

Over the years of driving to Chelan I had always wanted to include it as part of the Cascade Loop. This year we took an extra day to go the extra distance to include the loop. We started by driving east on Highway 20 to North Cascades National Park. We car camped at Colonial Creek campground for our first night. It was Rachel's first time camping and she loved playing in the tent. We had a hard time getting her to sleep and an even harder time sleeping with the squirmy baby.

The next day we continued east a short ways to Diablo Lake Overlook. From there we got some great views of some of the more prominent peaks of the North Cascades. We also took a short hike (or very long walk depending on who you ask) down to Diablo Dam. We continued east on 20 though some incredible scenery. We drove over Washington Pass and saw the steep faces of the twin peaks Early Winter Spires and Liberty Bell. Both Jamie and I recalled faint memories of these peaks as kids. Rachel is probably too young to start her own memories of them.

After Washington Pass the mountains turned to hills and the land became much more drier. We arrived in the small western themed town of Winthrop. We couldn't resist buying Rachel a cowboy hat so she could mosey down the wooden boardwalk bordering the shops. Though we enjoyed Winthrop's western feel, there were two very unusal things going on in the down during our visit. First, a nearby forest fire had spread smoke over the town. The sun shined though the smoke to cover the town in an orange glow. Also there was a light "snow fall" of ash on the town from the fire. Perhaps even more interesting was over a dozen exotic cars had driven into the town while we were there. It was kind of bizarre to see Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Maseratis parked on the streets of the small western town. One of owners was brave enough to park his Ferrari next to my filthy Subaru.

After Winthrop we headed south to Lake Chelan. At Chelan we spent a week enjoying the sun and playing in the lake. Check out Rachel's page for picture from our time in Chelan. After a relaxing week on the lake we drove south to Wenatchee and then west along Highway 2. We soon reach the Bavarian like town of Leavenworth at the foot of the eastern Cascades. Though the town was interesting it seemed very fake when compared to the somewhat authentic Winthrop. After some lunch and shopping we departed Leavenworth and traverssed up and over the Cascades via Stevens Pass. Not much longer we were back in Western Washington and back home.

We had a great time driving the Cascade Loop. The northern part through the North Cascades was very beautiful and it would be great to return and spend a few days exploing the area.