CROSSING THE CASCADES ON HWY 20 – TWISP TO ROCKPORT, WA

Western Washington.  Rain.  Two things almost inseparable!  It has rained without letup since we awoke, but we are cozy inside, with a pot of beans bubbling on the stove and the British Open on TV.  A good time to blog.  :)

We’ve heard much about Hwy 20 which crosses the Cascade Range through North Cascades National Park.  In the past, we’ve decided on another route for one reason or another: too much smoke from forest fires filling the valleys, or we wanted to visit Mt. Rainier, to the south, so crossed on Hwy 2.  This year, the time was right – and we got unexpected cooperation from the weather.  We awoke to sunshine, slathered on the bug juice, hooked up the Jeep and were away to the west by 9:15 am.

The view out our window when we awoke in Twisp.  Prepare to battle the mosquitos!	Heading west through the Methow Valley with lots of sunshine.

Washington Pass, at 5,477 feet elevation, seems to be the dividing line between drier, eastern Washington and wetter (MUCH wetter!) western Washington.  The climb from the Methow Valley is steep (several miles rated a 7% grade) and beautiful.  The road was smooth, the sunshine welcome, and we cruised along oohing and ahhing at the changing scenery.

Then… as the road started to rise, just around a curve, we glimpsed a gravel truck that had passed us when Odel used a “slow traffic” turnout.  Oh, man!  Just before we hit the steep grade, we lost our forward momentum!

We caught our first glimpse of the truck…	… and soon were up close and personal.

With no way to pass, we settled in for a slow climb, which turned out to be a great learning experience.  We’ve known for quite awhile that the way to keep the engine temperature down (not a worry today, with temperatures in the 50’s during the climb) is to climb slowly – which usually means 3rd gear for us on a steep, curvy grade.  With the truck moving so slowly (21 mph), we were geared down into 2nd gear – and the needle on the temperature gauge hardly budged off “flat road” temperature.  Its all about high RPM’s.

So we slowly crawled along, with plenty of time to look around and enjoy the scenery.  Several miles short of the pass, we began to see bright orange “Road Work” signs.  Around a curve, we came upon a flagger, who stopped us at the head of the line as the gravel truck continued to crawl up the grade ahead of us to drop his load.  When the flagger came over to Odel’s window for a chat, he said we’d have a five minute wait, so I hopped out for a few photographs.

The truck pulled away at the flagger; see the road cut on the side of the mountain ahead?	Odel and the flagger chatted while I took photos.  Notice the little waterfall to the left.

We fell in behind the pilot car…	…followed her around the curve and on up the grade.

It was just a short distance to the summit, and then we were over the pass into western Washington.  Soon lush growth covered every bit of soil, and moss carpeted rocks and tree trunks.  Named waterfalls thundered down mountainsides next to the highway; smaller, unnamed cascades splashed onto the road frequently; misty clouds clung to the mountaintops.

We saw beautiful high country valleys…	… and pulled over at the Ross Lake viewpoint.
Farther west, moss abounds.	Raindrops on our windshield were a given.

At times, the road brought to mind “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”, with sharp curves on a downhill slope.  Odel occasionally geared down into 2nd so we could negotiate the winding two-lane road without braking (much).  We crested another (lower) summit, passed a few gorgeous lakes, bisected the National Park, knowing we would be camped close enough to revisit the park and do some hiking over the next few days. 

We pulled off the highway in Rockport: gas station, post office, tavern and, its greatest feature, Howard Miller Steelhead Park (click here to read our review), our home for the next 5 days.  We had a site reserved for the first two nights, with the next three (weekend) night up in the air. Hooray - as I have been writing, the campground manager dropped by to say he had a cancellation for the weekend, so we’re in (though we will need to change sites).

With that settled, on the recommendation of our friend Jim Baker, Odel called Seattle City Light and arranged two tickets for their Diablo Lake Boat Tour.  According to weather.com, Sunday has a decent chance for sunshine, so we’ve crossed our fingers.  Until then, looks like umbrella weather.