Taking the North Cascade Highway to the Methow Valley

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It’s been a while since our last post, we’ve been busy this summer with camps and trips and theater classes but we’ve taken some good photos and are finally ready to write about them! Our first summer trip was to Winthrop Washington, if you’ve never visited the Methow Valley I urge you to make the trek. In summer if you are coming from the west you can take my favorite drive in the state as the North Cascade Highway opens up. It is such a scenic drive, you will pass the turquoise blue a Diablo Lake and Ross Lake as you pass through the North Cascades National park. Then you cross Washington Pass with incredible mountain views before your drop down to Mazama and Winthrop. If you have the time you should stop at one of the many incredible trails along the way for a quick hike.

Winthrop is an old west themed town right on the Methow River. There are multiple shops and restaurants all along the main drag through town. We enjoyed some live music at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery, sitting on the back patio right along the river. They are also know for their summer Rhythm and Blues festival, we missed it by a couple of weeks and have never been but it’s on my list to see! This year one of my favorite New Orleans funk bands, Galactic headlined the festival.

On this visit we took our lovely Scamp Birdie, and stayed at Pearrygin Lake State Park. It is a beautiful lake, though the campsites aren’t my favorite. They kind of pack them close together and there is little privacy or shade, not a problem when you have a trailer or RV like us but would be tough with a tent. There is an excellent trail that circles the lake and plenty of nature to view right there at the park. We saw the ubiquitous Killdeer right on the lake shore calling their distinctive Killdeer call. Also a new lifer for us was the Veery, a migrating thrush that for the west coast generally will only show up in a few small areas of Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon, they have a very interesting song that reminded me a lot of the Swainson’s Thrush.

Other than spending time paddle boarding on the lake, which I recommend to do early as once the motor boats and jet ski’s come out it get’s choppy, we also spent a day relaxing by the river. There were lot’s of Garter snakes enjoying the rock’s here and on occasion enjoying a swim in the river. If you need to see some Wild Turkey this is a good spot to do it, we often saw groups of young turkeys following their mother crossing fields or roadways.

We also saw deer, Osprey, and warblers, there is a lot of nature to see and things to do. If you make the trip make sure to visit Twisp and Mazama as well as Winthrop. You can also visit during winter as it is an excellent spot for cross country skiing and snow machining!

Useful Links and Info:

Read our last post about Devil’s Lake Recreation Area on the Oregon Coast.
Check out all our other birding and nature adventures here.
We recommend a good long sleeve hiking shirt to protect against the sun that stays dry. Here are men’s and women’s options.
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Most of these shots were taken with the Sony a7 along with the Sony FE 200-600mm lens.
Always bring bug spray and sun screen when birding, it get’s hot in Winthrop in summer!