North Cascade NP area

After a nice two day stay at an Air B&B in Mica, WA, I pushed onward into the eastern part of the Cascades.  My first stop was a little town in the mountains called Leavenworth.  The town was themed after the Bavarian area of Germany.  So after setting up at the KOA, I heading in to see what things were like.  I was very disappointed.  Very touristy, and only a few shops were German themed.  There must have been 12 wine tasting locations,  by only 1 beir garten.  The beer selection was not that great, so I only had one and headed back to the campground to enjoy the hot tub.

The next day I drove north along the outer areas of the mountains.   Lots and lots of fields, and more fruit tree groves than you can imagine.  A very pretty drive. 

The Cascade park was nice, but not a lot of the spectacular views like I had expected.  I guess the Tetons and Glacier spoiled me.  Interestingly, Cascade has 312 glaciers in the park.  The highest number in the lower 48 states (some Alaskan national parks have more). 

I did two small hikes.  I had planned a large hike hoping to get above the tree line, but a third of the way up I spoke to two women who had camped at the pass I was heading up, and they let me know there were no clear views, even at the top.  So, I opted for some lake views and enjoyed the mountains from afar.

No large animals to be seen, so after two days I decided to move on.

I am currently in Federal Way (between Seattle and Tacoma) with some old friends from Omaha.  They were kind enough to let me crash on their couch for three nights, and I got a ton of work done on Friday.  Today I focused on putting plans together for the next two weeks, and I will be leaving tomorrow morning.  I think I will be spending at least a week at Olympic NP.  The park is huge and has so many areas to explore.   Looking forward to the beach/marine part at the end of my stay.  Lots of great day hikes, so I am happy I am going into the park tomorrow with rested legs and feet.