My parents flew out to visit recently and we decided to take a trip with them to Mazama, WA. Mazama is on the east side of the Hwy 20 pass that goes through North Cascades National Park. I did a motorcycle ride through there in 2009 and I’ve been wanting to go back ever since.
We left Monday morning and took the route through Darrington. We stopped at Pressentin Park in Marblemount for a quick picnic lunch and then continued on our way.
Our next stop was the North Cascades Visitor Center but it was closed for some combination of it being the end of the season and the government shutdown. So we continued on to Ladder Creek Falls just a little farther down the road. There’s a suspension bridge over the river and then a steep climb up to see the falls. There are some interesting signs along the way explaining the history of the park and the effect of electrification from the dam.
We hopped back in the truck and pulled off at Diablo Lake. We had sunshine for most of the drive up to this point but it started getting a bit cloudier. The lake didn’t quite have its famous green color, but it’s still a beautiful view. We also stopped a little bit up the road at the Ross Lake overlook.
I had hoped that our next stop would be the trail to Rainy Lake but even though it was the middle of October, there was a foot of fresh snow! That would have made the hike too difficult for us anyway, but we also arrived in early afternoon and parking along the trailhead was a zoo. So we continued on to the Washington Pass Observation Site. The parking lot wasn’t plowed and there were quite a few cars there already, but we found a parking spot and despite not having good shoes for walking in snow, we made our way down the packed snow trail. The wet feet were worth it. It’s already and amazing view and it was magnified by all the fresh snow. If you’ve never driven through this pass, I highly recommend it! It’s my favorite of the Washington passes through the Cascades, and the addition of fall colors was incredible.
From there we headed down the east side of the mountain to our Airbnb just past Mazama. We filled our days with a lot of food cooked at the house, two short hikes, exploring the western themed town of Winthrop, visiting the Shafer Historical Museum, and playing a lot of games at the house. The weather was cool but the sunny skies gave us beautiful views.
For the drive home, we took the slightly longer route east to Hwy 97 and then south to catch SR 2 west across Stevens Pass. We had to stop in Leavenworth for brats at Munchen Haus and fudge from the Fudge Hut.
That’s a lot of miles to cover with three people in the back seat and I appreciate everyone being willing to do this trip! It’s a gorgeous area and while Winthrop is still touristy, there’s a lot fewer people around and the whole area feels a lot more peaceful. It would be fun to go back there again and use that house as a base camp for a bunch of day hikes in the mountains!