Solo trip through the North Cascades on three wheels.

[metalcarver]

There are many ride reports from the NW that begin with a ferry ride. Same here.

Followed by a surprising uncrowded North Cascades Highway through the Skagit Valley and over the Cascades to Mazama.

And then camped in a dispersed are on the Methow River.

The next day a trip to the pass at the end of the North Fork of the Methow river.

The Methow Valley. You can see smoke in the distance, blown in from recent fires.

Then went back down the Methow River to Winthrop and gas in Twisp, then up the Twisp River to Poorman Creek which I followed up to the next divide. A very short day but a beautiful campground and absolutely no traffic. Nothing. Dead calm air and warm

 

[metalcarver]

The next day it was over a pass down into Gold Creek and then up the south fork of Gold Creek to the Cooper Mountain road following the ridge above Lake Chelan.

Getting pretty smoky.

Um... Lake Chelan

And then a perfect day turned into an adventure <sigh> which 4 hours later was saved by a gentleman named Bjorn from Portland gave me a new tube. When he rode by I had not seen anyone for a day and a half. On one of the more popular routes in this part of Washington. ( IOU )

Grabbed the first flat spot I could find and slept until the next day.

 

[metalcarver]

A brand new day.

Headed down to Lake Chelan on a much clearer day.

Fuel in Chelan the up to 25 mile Creek and up the Shady Pass road.

Then I made a really short day of it and set up a guard station on Grouse Mountain. Standing a vigil against the forces of evil is a dirty job but someone has to do it.

Called before the Council of the Pines.

Up the pass the next day.

What smoke?

And then down into the Entiat Valley. I figured I'd done a good skim of what is in the area and there is an entire rat's nest of roads and places to poke around that I will definitely be returning. This is probably on of those areas where it would be best to set up a base camp and make a number of day trips. Definitely going back. I hopped on the highway and took the requisite picture of Rainier and then on home through the paved and electrified corpuscles we call modern society.

 

[Jeep or Tacoma]

Leading ink front fork! What bike is it

 

[Sierra Valley]

Great trip! Thanks for sharing.

 

[tip]

Awesome trip report. I've always wanted to explore the Methow area. Pretty good road systems up that way?

 

[metalcarver]

Good roads but looks like it could get crowded in peak summer days. There are ATV areas and 4wd roads but those are marked and all others are bumpy but ok for cars. No loops but down by Entiat you can find hundreds of roads.