The Cascade Loop National Scenic Byway is in my home state, Washington. The loop covers a pretty decent range of the scenery typical of Washington state. On Day 5 of our trip around the loop, we traveled westbound through the Cascades to our home in Seattle. Starting in Leavenworth, we headed west on Highway 2, then took a detour to Lake Wenatchee. After a short hike, we got back on the road over Stephen’s Pass. Then took two last stops before heading for the stable. One to enjoy the mist at Deception Falls and the second for lunch in Skycomish.
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.
Wenatchee River
Roadside view of the Wenatchee River just west of Leavenworth. The Wenatchee flows east to the Columbia basin.
Lake Wenatchee
This is a beautiful and peaceful location. The smell of mountain air and bird song can’t be conveyed in a photograph, neither can the sense of peace that this area made me feel. We sat on the shore of the lake then took a short hike along the Wenatchee RIver as it emerged from the lake to head to points east.
Lake Wenatchee has both a State Park (with some campsites) and also a US Forest Service campground and trail access. We visited at the State Park. If you go, which I highly recommend if you enjoy natural beauty, be aware of what type of parking pass you need for the area you stop in.
Just in the mountains
Deception Falls
Another stop we made was at Deception Falls. It’s an amazing spot. The walk in the woods by the rushing, gushing Deception Creek and Tye River is refreshing on a hot day, and awe inspiring at any time. There are some fairly easy trails to see the falls and river with lovely temperate rain forest scenery. The Tye flows westward to the Snohomish River and Puget Sound.
Skycomish
Impulsively we stopped at the town of Skycomish for a late lunch and to delay our return to the I5 corridor. Just a few last minutes of vacation, eating at a local cafe then walking along the river. Skycomish is a railroad, Burlington Northern, town. It is in an amazing setting in the Skycomish River valley in the Cascades.
Leaving Skycomish we drove through the last of the mountains:
As we approached our turn off from I5 “The Mountain” was out hovering over the traffic. Reminding us, perhaps, that there is no place like home.
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.
We weren’t able on our trip to ‘close the circle’ (something always has to give when trying to see a state in three weeks!) so much of this is new to me. Lake Wenatchee looks beautiful and so in its way does Skycomish 🙂
Three weeks is never as long as you think it will be.