LAST CHANCE RAMBLE

Recently we had an unexpectedly "open" Saturday, free from a usual weekly committment. Also unexpected was the blue-sky, warm sunny day sandwiched between strings of rainy ones.

It was our only opportunity to drive the "North Cascades Highway" which we had

been hoping to do.

From our place in the west, over Snoqualmie Pass, and other passes, we drove the "loop".

First stop was in the Wenatchee valley apple orchard area.

Local orchards vie for the most eye-catching displays to lure one into the fruit stands:

We preferred to just stop alongside the road to photograph the real thing.

How ancient this one looks:

Methow Valley is along the route; the most eastern part of the "loop".

The little town of Methow may not even have a post office of its own, it is so small, but what does that matter when there are charmers like this:

 Winthrop might be the half-way place; it is the only place  for a respite.

Because of its location, it is partly a tourist town, but it evolved casually from its genuince historical roots rather than be a contrived destination.  Thus, the original buildings are indeed still the real thing.

Winthrop saloon has the distinction of being the oldest remaining one in the state.

The town was established in the mid-1800s, mostly from mining, but today it stays alive from dairy and lumber interests, plus cross-country skiing for tourists in the winter.

Our main goal was to see the magnificent North Cascade Mountains.  Washington Pass is north of Winthrop, on the way back west.

To my disappointment, I had forgotten I had left the polarizer lens on my camera from a previous outing.  Put that together with the fact that we were headed west late in the day, and the pictures I took were not at all with the right settings!

Another shock and disappointment was that we had never seen so little snow there.  Yes, this was the end of September, but this had been a heavy-snow winter, and this pass is always the first one to close and the last one to open, due to heavy snows.

We were almost embarrassed for the nakedness of these slopes!

Is there still snow under that sawdusty talus covering?

Mountains backlit from a setting sun; polarizer lens (by accident), left me with just silhouettes of the peaks, but perhaps some of these shapes display why the North Cascades are called "The Alps of America".

We know that next time we will begin the loop drive north, then east so that we see the mountains in the light of the eastern sun.
This view was on the north side of the highway, so there was a tad more light:

Nature's Totem Pole:

 An extremely long waterfall:

 Same waterfall, closer by degrees:

 And Ross Lake into which it empties: