North Cascades Highway
EARTH WIND FIRE (& WATER)
September 12, 2015

On another lovely Saturday our planned trip to Cascade Pass at the end of the Cascade River Road came to an abrupt end, like the road. Despite being marked OPEN on the Web, it was not, and would not be until the end of October. What to do? What to do? We opted for a trip along the nearby North Cascades Highway. We'd read of damage there during the summer's fires. Would it be apparent? Perhaps we could climb the outlook at Washington Pass. And maybe we'd even manage to do our hike to Rainy Lake, up in the mountains. Off we went.

 

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As we neared Newhalem, we realized that many of these brown trees had actually been burned.
   
Between the drought and the fires it was a sobering sight.
 

We stopped to check the water color of Lake Diablo. It varies between blue and green. This is my favorite.

   

The meadows were beginning to display Autumn foliage.

  

They seemed not as vibrant as usual. It was so dry here this Summer.

 
The foliage was very pretty at the turnoff to the Washington Pass outlook.
 

Liberty Bell, a grouping made up of four mountains, glowed in the morning sunshine.

   

I did not stand on this outlook. Tim did.

I crept up this path. I'm not a fan of heights! But I made it!

  

I even took a picture of the highway down below.

 

Most of the time I stayed well back from the edge.

The leaves beside the trail were so colorful.

 
Hey you two - time to eat lunch!' said a Clark's Nutcracker.
 

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