Saturday Drive to North Cascades National Park - 10/21/06 - These mountains are known as the "Alps of North America"

We took Hwy 20 east toward the NCNP

1st stop - Concrete, WA

There was still early morning fog in the mountains!

Country church in Concrete

We drove along the Skagit River all day.
Crater Mountain
The leaves were at their peak. Since there are so many Evergreens there are little patches of yellow here and there and a lot of the color is along the water and the waterfalls. There is no red to speak of. Where there is color it is gorgeous, mixed with the Evergreens.
There were huge boulders in the river bottom. The sign suggests no entry as the river can rise at any moment, with no warning, when the gates to the Gorge Dam are opened.

The following pictures were taken along Lake Diablo. It is a gorgeous, large lake within the park.


From the Diablo Lake Overlook.
Granny & Pa!


On the road again!

This North Cascades Highway is closed mid-Nov to April. It won't be long until the snow is flying.....in fact it is predicted to start this week.


On the road again!


On the road again! We are near the east side of the Cascades now so the county side turns brown. No rain here!!
Horseback riding at Sun Country Resort in Winthrop, WA
Looking into the valley from the resort. You see snow covered peaks from your rooms.
Winthrop is a little town completely done in Western style.
This is one street of many.
"The Doors of Winthrop"
The indoors of Winthrop! ha!
It is now 4 PM. The shadows are getting longer. We talked about getting a room here but everything was sold out because there was a festival going on. We had 200 miles home so we decided to hit the road again.
We followed Lake Entiat through Chelan and on down towards Wenatchee. Lake Entiat is the Columbia River damned up to form an enormous lake that goes for many miles. This area is desert, but lining the river for miles and miles, are enormous groves of apple trees that are irrigated with the river. I have never seen so many apple trees in my life. They are all being harvested now and carried away in trucks. Very interesting!
Apple trees! This is how they grow.....along the desert......the only green in sight. If you enlarge this picture you will see the apples! We drove on as the sun set and we were home by 8 PM. It is amazing to think that we have this beauty only miles from where we live!! How lucky we are!!