Continuing over the North Cascades passes....

From Rainy Pass I went down a bit before going up some more to Washington Pass. Everything but the road was covered in fresh snow and the scenery was stunning. There weren't many places to pull off the road, but there were almost no other cars on the road so I was able to just slow down or stop on the road to get photos. I'm sure some of these mountains have names, but I haven't had much luck figuring most of them out. (Anyone who knows their names should feel free to tell me.)







( More photos from between Rainy and Washington Passes )

This is Washington Pass, elevation 5477 feet. I think this was the highest point of my trip. Due to the time of the year I really didn't get up into the mountains much. The car said the outside temperature was 31F when I got to the pass which was slightly concerning, but the road was mostly dry and I just made sure to proceed slowly and carefully any time I had to cross wet places on the road. I never found any ice on the road, so it was all good.







The views coming down from Washington Pass were even more spectacular. I think they deserve a post of there own ... coming up soon.

These are the last of my photos from North Cascades National Park, although not the last photos from the North Cascades.


I loved seeing all the waterfalls, short and long. Both of these waterfalls were along the highway to the west of Diablo Lake. (Yes, these photos were taken before the photos in the last post and are thus out of order. They fit better here.)






After leaving the Diablo Lake overlook, I was headed for higher elevations and more snow.




At times it looked like I was going to drive right into a cloud, but for the most part I didn't.




( More photos )

Coming next: Snowy scenery from Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest

November 18 started with me having to get up, go out, and move my car before 9 AM. It wasn't a big deal, but it meant I got up and crept out before my cousin was up. I took my laptop with me and after moving the car I went over to the nearby coffee shop where there was internet service.

This is the view looking out across the water from near my cousin's building.




Once my cousin was up and ready to go she came over to the coffee shop. We set out for the Skagit Valley to look for Trumpeter Swans. My cousin had been wanting to see them since moving there several years ago but she doesn't have a car and she couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with her. She got some advice on where to go from a friend, and off we went. Unsurprisingly, the weather was overcast and gray. At least it wasn't raining when we started out. (It eventually got really nasty and poured, but that was later.) We got to the area where we'd been told to go and drove around for a while until we found a big flock of swans in a field in a place where we could pull off the road. After a while the swans left and so did we. We drove around some more and found more swans, but no more big flocks where we could stop.






( More swan photos, plus some geese. )


There was one oddball bird in the field with the swans and geese - a Sandhill Crane - not something I was expecting.




The scenery was gorgeous, although sometimes hidden from sight.

These are some of the North Cascades. I have not been successful in figuring out a name for them.




( More mountains and scenery )

I'd call it a successful swan-watching outing.