Posts Tagged ‘twisp’

Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.11.2009

Day Five – Saturday, July 11, 2009

The day we had to depart Conconully, Washington had arrived. It was time to pack up the Toyota Land Cruiser and be checked out by Noon.

After saying our goodbyes, we headed into Okanogan for fuel and started heading South on US-97. We then made unplanned route change and decided to go home over the more scenic North Cascades Highway (SR-20).

From Okanogan, SR-20 climbs over Loup Loup Summit and then descends into the Methow Valley at Twisp where we stopped for lunch. After leaving, we drove through WInthrop and got coffee at a local stand. While waiting for coffee, I spoke to a reader of this site (who is also an 80-series land Cruiser owner) who was attending a Subaru club run. As usual for a sunny summer Saturday, Winthrop was very busy. Without stopping we continued on Westbound, following the Methow River with all rafters and tubers floating the river.

From Mazama, SR-20 steadily climbs into the North Cascades with beautiful views of the Alp-like mountains and Ross Lake on the West side. We stopped at one of the Ross lake viewpoints and realized how hot the temperature really was. It was warmer there than during any of our time in the past week in Eastern Washington.

Near Rockport, we drove past the Cascadian Farms where there was sign for “homemade ice cream” so we had to make a stop. I had organic strawberry ice cream which I had to say was probably the best I’ve ever had. It was very hot in Rockport as well, just add the humidity. I’ll take the dry heat over the humid heat any day. From Rockport we, followed SR-20 to Burlington and then South on I-5 to our home in Edgewood.

We only had a few days to spend in Conconully and I could have easily spent weeks exploring the area. There is so much history in the area that I only sampled a few sites. It’s nice to visit an area that most of the roads are open to vehicle travel with very few restrictions. In fact, many of the forest service roads (and the town of Conconully) are open to quads, making to it an ATV paradise. I only wish some other government agencies and private land owners in Washington state would open up access to some of the other available lands.

The town of Conconully probably has a higher mule deer population within the town limits than permanent residents. I saw more three three point or better mule deer bucks on this trip than in my entire life combined. I’m sure these prized bucks know when to disappear in the Fall.

The whole family made the decision that we’re all going back next year for sure. Just got to budget for a little longer stay next time around.

Note: This is the fifth and final installment of a five part series on our family trip to Conconully, Washington in July 2009.

Part 1: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.07.2009
Part 2: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.08.2009
Part 3: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.09.2009
Part 4: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.10.2009
Part 5: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.11.2009