Today I started another trip to explore more Washington State parks, this time the ones in the northeast corner. My friend Dave and I departed around 6 a.m. from my place, after Dave had navigated through pre-rush hour traffic on I-405 from his place up north. We first stopped at the neighborhood Starbucks so he could caffeinate, then we headed out for Snoqualmie Pass. At the summit, were the first in the Summit Pancake House when it opened at 7 a.m. for breakfast. It was cold enough to see our breath outside, but dry and only partly cloudy.
On the way up to Blewett Pass, we stopped to do some birdwatching at Swauk Cemetery, where we saw a few nice birds that aren’t necessarily found on the west side of the state, like Western Meadowlarks and both Mountain and Western Bluebirds. We also stopped to gawk at the small buffalo herd at a nearby farm.
On the eastern side of Blewett Pass, we stopped at the first park of the trip, Peshastin Pinnacles. It was new to me, but Dave had climbed some of the rock pinnacles there when he was younger. It was sunny and pleasant and provided a nice view of the valley containing the town of Cashmere.
Then we drove through the city of Wenatchee towards the next park, Squilchuck. We were disappointed by this park, which consisted of a huge empty parking lot, a mountain bike track, and a lodge that was only accessible to those who had rented it for events. The one picnic table we saw in the park looked rather shabby even. However,it did have a nice but distant view of the Wenatchee valley.
It was about lunchtime then and we drove back to the valley, crossed the Columbia River to East Wenatchee and stopped in a city park. There we walked down to the river and did a little birding while walking along a bike path and the river shore. For lunch, we ate some snacks we had brought along. Although we had planned to spend the night in Wenatchee, we changed plans because it was so early, and drove towards Chelan as the day’s destination, stopping at two more parks along the way: Lincoln Rock and Daroga. Both were pleasant places along the Columbia River upstream from Wenatchee, with huge expanses of grass and boat launching ramps. Lincoln Rock’s name was derived from the similarity a distant cliff face has to the shape of Abraham Lincoln’s face. What do you think?
We finished the day in Chelan at a brew pub offering trivia night during dinner hour. We didn’t win anything in the trivia contest, but their fish tacos and hard apple cider were great. Our Chelan hotel is on the shore of the lake and has a nice view.
Lori's Travels 