Cascade Loop Road Trip: Day 3

The plan this morning was to spend a leisurely morning at camp. We have nowhere to be until check in at Leavenworth this afternoon, and the earliest that could be is 3PM. 

We weren’t feeling too hungry, so we finished up the other half of our big muffins from yesterday, packed up our campsite and took a beautiful drive down North Cascade Scenic Highway.  

Despite not being in a hurry, we reached the Blue Lake trailhead at 9AM.  The air was still chilly as we started our hike. We had opted for the “we feel good” hike, as we were pleasantly surprised not to be really sore when we woke up. 

We started up the trail. It went along the highway for a little bit. Then there were boardwalk sections. And then some winding uphill trail. It went next through a meadow surrounded by mountains. We continued further up to the mountain lake. 

There were so many fish jumping!  Not only were the fish jumping, but the water was so clear you could see them swimming around before and after they jumped. That was fun. A chipmunk ran around nearby as we ate our beef summer sausage and crackers. We watched some brave souls swimming in the cold lake. 

We decided to hike a little loop trail called the Tarn Loop. Bryan started a grouse, and it startled him right back, exploding out of the underbrush and winging its way across the trail right in front of him. Next, and less startlingly, we saw a pica scurrying over the rocks.  As we came back to where the trail starts down again towards the cruck there was a mountain goat stood right in the middle of the trail causing hikers to wait until he moved along. 

When we made it back to the trailhead, we had enjoyed our little over 5 mile hike.  The views were so stunning that I had taken many photos of various mountains. Very nice way to end our time in the North Cascades area (although technically outside of the national park). 

Our next stop was at a little mountain store to get some cold drinks. When we got there we felt like we were in a Trader Joe’s or something. It was surprisingly swank for a little store. Bryan felt he had earned a cookie, and they had big cookies available, so he won. They were (unsurprisingly) not dairy free, so I had a piece of chocolate in the car instead. 

When we got to the next town, Whinthrop, there was a sign advertising scoops of ice cream. It was also themed very cute with an old west feel. We decided to walk around and check on the ice cream. We walked up and down the boardwalk, tried two ice cream places without finding any tempting dairy free options. Also, Bryan tried on some shoes at a little shop, since his Birkenstocks are worn out. We didn’t find a pair he liked in his size, so we continued on.  

As we follow the Cascade Loop National Scenic Byway heading toward Leavenworth, we decided we could use a picnic. Bryan found us a shaded picnic table at the dam. The shade was non-negotiable as it is now 87 degrees. I ate a salad, and Bryan munched on some odds and ends out of the cooler. I offered to make him a sandwich, but he said the bread didn’t sound good for whatever reason. Traveling does strange things to one’s cravings and digestive system as you eat foods you might not normally at times that your body isn’t accustomed to. We just go with the flow on that. 

Keeping our eyes open for any ice cream signs, we continued our drive toward Leavenworth. Everything is so much browner and drier here. It is crazy how dried out everything can look right next to the river. The temperature is up to 91 degrees at this point. Surely people living somewhere this hot will have places to get ice cream. 

By the time we arrived in Leavenworth, the temp was back down at 83 degrees. We freshened up and went out to dinner at Andreas Keller Restaurant. We both had schnitzel. I had pork, Bryan had chicken. And we split a polish dog. Yum!  While we ate we enjoyed the boisterous ambience and the live accordion player’s music. 

Next we walked along and shopped around the little shops along the pedestrian only zone. The temperature was much more comfortable at this point. I was clean, well fed, and not too warm. I was feeling very happy. What a wonderful date night! 

Once we had looked at all the shops we wanted to, we went to Whistlepunk Ice Cream and got a flight of flavors. I got blackberry sorbet and chocolate. Yum!

Then we went down to the waterfront promenade. It was distinctly underwhelming. You could barely see the river most of the time. Ah well, can’t win ‘em all. We did see the place we would go tomorrow if we end up wanting to float down the river in an inter tube (which I would say is a distinct possibility at this point). We walked back up into town, poked around at some stores (some of which were closed and we will come back to tomorrow) and looked at menus for tomorrow’s dinner. 

Then we walked contentedly back to our car and returned to our air conditioned room to relax. We picked out a hike for tomorrow that does not look as strenuous as the hikes we have done over the past three days, and decided we would like to do the Enchantments (a set of lakes) sometime in the future when we haven’t been doing so many steep hikes day after day already. 

Tomorrow we plan to sleep in, eat breakfast at the hotel, and then go take a little hike in the morning and float down the river in the late afternoon and eat some good food in the evening. We shall see what the day actually holds for us. 

Good night!