North Cascades Trip

For Father's Day I wanted to spend time with the family, but I also wanted to get in a training ride for the upcoming RAMROD. We accomplished this by camping at Newhalem Campground in North Cascades National Park. It had been six years since our last visit to the park and it was good to finally be back, especially with dry conditions. On our first night we stopped by at the visitor's center and hung out by the campfire. Vivian also worked on her Junior Ranger badge as she was too young to do so last time.

Early the next morning I got up to do the 75 mile 6600' elevation gain ride to Winthrop. It was 40 miles of almost continuous climbing to Rainy Pass and then to Washington Pass. The climb was mostly gradual, but even with the steep parts the ride was perhaps the best ride I had ever done. The scenery was incredible with surrounding mountains and lakes and roadside waterfalls. Once at the top of Washington Pass the ride was almost all downhill to Winthrop. It was a fun and fast ride down, but I had to be cautious of passing cars. Once at Winthrop I meet up with the family for lunch and we then drove back together to camp.

The next day we drove home, but with a couple stops. We visited Glacier Peak Winery which didn't have the best estate wine, but that's not surprising considering the less than ideal grape growing conditions in the North Cascades. The kids enjoyed playing with the winery puppies. Our final stop was at Cascadian Farm for some ice cream on their scenic grounds.