North Cascades Loop - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 67

11. Winthrop
Poised at the fork of the Methow and Chewuch rivers, this tiny town was founded in the
late 1800s and—complete with boardwalks and hitching posts—seems to have retained its
frontier appearance. The old-fashioned facades, however, are actually false fronts erected
in1972topromotetourism.Theallurehereowesasmuchtotheweatherastothearchitec-
ture:Thevalleybasksinsunshinesome300daysayear,andsoitisameccaforyear-round
outdoor activity—about 125 miles of well-maintained trails wind throughout the valley.
Wildflowers and wildlife—countless acres of lupine, larkspur, and mariposa lilies, along
with mule deer, songbirds, and waterfowl—thrive in this climate too. Nearby are 578-acre
Pearrygin Lake State Park, which flanks a spring-fed lake with a bright sandy beach, and
Big Valley Ranch, a former cattle ranch that is now a wildlife preserve.
Did you know…
The North Cascade Loop traced here was impossible until 1972, when the
rugged northern Cascade Mountains were finally breached by a highway.
12. Lake Chelan
Theloopleadssouthwardnow,meanderingdownRte.153throughthefruitorchards,horse
ranches, and hayfields of the Methow River valley toward Lake Chelan. Cradled in a nar-
row glacial trough between the Chelan Mountains and Sawtooth Ridge, the long, narrow,
sapphire-blue lake reaches a depth of 1,500 feet. At the southern end the resort town of
Chelan serves as the launch point for excursion boats and seaplanes to Stehekin, a 19th-
century mining community 55 miles uplake and inaccessible by road. Private orchards and
vineyardsalongthelowershorelineyieldatmid-lake,becomingamixofforestandrugged
bluffs scaled by mountain goats. At the northern tip lies the Lake Chelan National Recre-
ation Area, a wilderness laced with hiking trails.
13. Wenatchee Valley
The Wenatchee area calls itself the Apple Capital of the World, and the claim makes sense:
Itsenormousannualcropofapplesisgreaterthanthenumberproducedbyanyotherapple-
growing locale. Numerous vineyards now provide wine grapes to more than 20 boutique
wineries along this route.
Beautiful Ohme Gardens, in the town of Wenatchee, was begun by an orchardist in
1929 as a family retreat. Situated on nine acres of rock outcroppings high above the valley,