Methow Valley/North Cascades
August 2007
On the Pacific Crest Trail to Windy Pass
Looking for a pre-Labor Day getaway this year we decided to "rough-it" in the Methow Valley and the North Cascades by using the Freestone Inn as our basecamp for day hiking and fly fishing. We left home on Wednesday morning and began the drive over Snoqualmie and Blewett passes heading north to the Methow Valley. En-route we stopped outside of Winthrop at Boulder Creek where I fished an hour or so for native cutthroat and wild brook trout while Catherine took a walk to stretch her legs. After that we headed to our camp for the next 3 nights - the Freestone Inn in Mazama.
The Freestone Inn
The Freestone was the perfect place for us - great rooms, good food, a private lake full of rainbow and brown trout, and close to all the good hiking in the high country of the North Cascades. Our days consisted of eating a nice breakfast at the lodge, hiking, and then coming back to relax, do a bit of fishing in the lake, and eating a great dinner at the lodge. Life is hard.
 |
 |
| Freestone Inn from the lake | View from our deck |
 |
 |
| The Great Room and Dining area | Our room |
Pacific Crest Trail - Slate Pass to Windy Pass
For our first hike we chose to hike the PCT to Windy Pass. This is an amazing hike all through very high country that involves driving up the scariest road we've ever been on to Slate Pass at 6800'. The road actually continues to Slate Mountain to a lookout there. They have closed the last stretch of road but this was the highest road in Washington State and was built in the early cold war era to man the lookout where someone watched for Soviet bombers. There was a 1/2 mile stretch of road that was very treacherous and we lucked out in that it was evidently in very good shape due to a slide they had just cleared and the fact that the road had just opened 2 weeks before. I wouldn't want to be on this road when it was in bad shape.
The trail stays high the entire time, gradually descending through one alpine meadow after another finally climbing 500' to Windy Pass at 6900'.
 |
|
| Parking at the top of the world | |
 |
 |
| The PCT trailhead at Slate Pass | On the PCT |
 |
 |
| Last stretch to Windy Pass | At our lunch rock at the top |
 |
 |
| Catherine at the pass | On the trail back, you can see the lookout on Slate Mtn. |
Cutthroat Pass via Cutthroat Lake
The second day we chose to hike up to Cutthroat Pass, also at 6900' but closer to Washington Pass and an all pavement drive. This was a 12 mile round-trip with 2400' of elevation gain so a bit more distance and elevation than Windy Pass but just as spectacular. The only problem we encountered was nasty blisters, by the time we got to the top both Catherine and I had blisters the size of quarters on our heels.
 |
 |
|
Cutthroat Creek at the start, we are heading to the high pass just to the right of the central peak |
Getting out of the trees toward the pass |
 |
 |
| View just over the pass | Blister care |
 |
|
|
Panorama at Cutthroat Pass looking back down the trail |
|
The Drive Home
The plan was to get up Saturday, have breakfast, and hike another 7 mile loop out of Rainy Pass. The blisters, however, changed that plan. Instead we got up and I fished a few hours while Catherine did yoga. We then had lunch and headed back over Hwy 20 stopping at overlooks and doing the small nature-trail strolls in our flip-flops instead of putting back on our hiking boots.
 |
 |
| Early Winter Spires from the Overlook trail | View back down Hwy 20 from Overlook trail |
 |
 |
| Ross Lake from the Kerouac pullout - Desolation Peak in the distance | Diablo Lake |
Fishing Sidenote
No fish pictures but the fishing was good even in the closed season for the primary rivers in the area. I got all four species of trout on the trip - Rainbows, Browns, Cutthroat, and Brookies. Boulder Creek holds native wild cutts and non-native but still wild brookies. The surprise is that there are some large fish in this small creek, up to 13". Perfect water for a 6-7' 3-weight outfit and all fish were taken on a #16 Yellow Stimulator as the place is great stonefly habitat. The lake at the Freestone Inn holds mostly rainbows but also browns. Every morning and evening when the swallows start swooping the fish start rising to midges. I got fish sub-surface on damsel nymphs but the real fun was stalking shallow rising fish with a #18 Adams or #18 Hackled Racoon midge emerger. These flies worked great and accounted for some nice 14-15" fish from the small lake. I should have been using a 7 1/2' bamboo but instead was using my 8' 5-weight Sage SP, next time I know.