The Cascade Loop National Scenic Byway is in my state. The loop covers a pretty decent range of the scenery typical of Washington state. We did it clockwise, starting by taking the ferry to Whidbey Island. Day 2, which was the summer solstice this year, we traveled through the North Cascades from Sedro-Wooley to Winthrop.
Most years we go to Paradise at Mount Rainier for a few days to hike and just enjoy the mountain air. But this year we decided to see some of the state that we haven’t been to before. It seemed like a good idea to spend our vacation dollars locally. We bought a pass for state parks when we renewed our car tabs this year so we tended to focus on visiting state parks during this outing.
Prairie west of the North Cascades
Not far from Sedro-Woolley is a very nice state park: Rasar. It had what I call prairie landscape and a riparian area near the Skagit River. It’s a beautiful spot and a great place to enjoy the first morning of summer.
Forested foothills on the rainy side of the mountains
We were wandering and stopped at Rockport State Park. Rockport is a forest park in the Cascade foothills.
I played a bit with a new neutral density filter with a fast rushing creek at that park:
The Cascade Mountains themselves
Our next stop was in the North Cascades National Park at the Newhalem Visitor Center. Another walk in the woods and along the Skagit River.
The rest of our time in the park was driving the North Cascades Highway, with a few stops to let the go-fasters go by. There was still quite a bit snow at the higher elevations.
The other side of the mountains: Methow valley
We ended the day in Winthrop, the sun was still pretty high in the sky. The solstice sunset was at 9:06pm.
Linking this to Second Wind Leisure Perspective’s Solstice.
Cascade Loop Scenic Byway series
Other posts about our trip:
I use Raw Therapee and the GIMP, both open source, to process photos. This post describes the process I use.
Now that I live in Eastern Washington I sure appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the cascades! Gorgeous pictures and I’m so glad you shared your slice of the solstice!
Ah yes, this is the section we drove, although we were going anticlockwise. We started in Winthrop after an overnight stay at a lovely motel, overlooking the river, and took our time, stopping part way through at a somewhat bizarre place in Marblemount, the Buffalo Run Inn 🙂 we missed some of the state parks you mention which is a shame – they look beautiful! But we did stop at Newhalem to see the Picket Range and also enjoyed a lovely walk to Rainy Lake. It’s a stunning drive, as your photos show!
So beautiful. I live in Washington and always thought that look would be fun to do. Maybe someday
It is such a beautiful area you’ve been to Kate!