A Beautiful Park – North Cascades

We left the town of Bridgeport, WA today after a very relaxing stay.  We took some time to organize the Bighorn now that we have a little more insight as to what we need and don’t need.  We also had some items that we had brought along that we had hoped we would do something with, but haven’t. Fortunately a dumpster was nearby.

We watched the sunset from our site.

We also took some time to visit some of the local towns.  We visited the Saturday market in Okanogan, and ate at La Milpa in Brewster for lunch.  Bridgeport and Brewster have large concentrations of Hispanic speakers and many of the stores’ signage etc. is in Spanish.  We ordered lunch in Spanish with Celia filling in my language gaps.  We had some excellent carnitas and el pastor tacos.

Travelling from Bridgeport to the North Cascades takes one through several small towns including Winthrop that has taken on a western persona.  The transformation has worked as the town was bustling with people at stores and coffee shops on a Monday morning.

Several people have asked us why we were going to the North Cascades National Park, since it is not one of the better known destinations.  We had heard about how beautiful it is, plus we were too close not to visit.  I have noticed that unlike say Yellowstone, Black Hills, or Grand Tetons, where one sees vehicles from every state, most all of the car license plates here are from Washington State.

Much like Glacier National Park, there is one main road that traverses the park.  Here are some photos from the Hwy 20 drive.

Liberty Bells near Washington Pass

Below is the view of the emerald waters of Diablo Lake.

Our destination is the Howard Miller Steelhead Park operated by Skagit County in the small town of Rockport.  It is on the Skagit River on the eastern side of the North Cascades. This is a beautiful park which we are going to enjoy.

View from Steelhead Park tonight.