Twisp Pass — Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012

North Cascades > Methow/Sawtooth

A quiet and scenic day on the Twisp Pass trail. After fueling up at the delicious Cinnamon Twisp Bakery (which opens at 6 a.m, by the way, and can make you a bagel sandwich), we were at the trailhead at 7:30 a.m. Only one other car -- okay, it's Wednesday so I suppose that is no surprise. We saw only two other people the entire day. The trail was in good shape overall, although overgrown in several stretches. I had to watch my step carefully in these areas, because big rocks are hiding in there waiting to trip you up. Only one smallish downed log to negotiate over, no problem. The western tanagers were abundant and lovely to watch close up. Also abundant were the skeeters, especially at the pass when we stopped for lunch, so pack your double strength Deet. Among the campgrounds that dot the the Twisp River Road, the aptly named Road's End campground looked to be rather sweet. At one point from the trail we could peer down into it a portion of the camp -- it looked pretty empty. Potential base from which to hike the many great trails in this area. All in all a terrific outing.