San Juan Island

In this post, let me write about the San Juan Island. To go to this island, we went to Anacortes and then took the ferry from there. This is just a day trip. You can always carry your car on the ferry and then drive the car in the island. This comes to nearly 50 dollars for two people and the per person will be lesser if you pool more people in a car. The island is quite small and there are two places where you can rent bikes and ride them. Cycling in those roads is a good activity. Or you can drive and see places around. The key places I recollect are the Lighthouse, British camp, a couple of beaches, Lavender farm and Young hill.

The trek to the top of Young hill is simply amazing. The trek is short but steep enough to make you sweat a lot and you have a prize in the end of the trail. You will have an amazing view of Canada. We did have enough charge in our cameras. So we could not manage any pictures of this location in good resolution. However you can find some of the cellphone shots taken, here.

Cape of Disappointment

This place, unlike the name suggests, is a superb place which will not disappoint you at all. The drive to this place is on the most scenic highway US-101. There are two routes to go to this place from Seattle and I would suggest you to go in this route. There is a beach in the Cape Disappointment State Park and it is not crowded and is the best place to sit and enjoy. Then there is a jetty near the beach which goes quite a distance into the sea. And the walk on the rocky strip is breezy and refreshing.

From the beach you will be able to see two light houses. Then there is a Light house trail which will take you to one of the Light houses. There will be another scenic view of an isolated beach. You can see the pictures taken during our trip to Cape of Disappointment, here. This is one of the best short trips you can make from Seattle and I highly recommend this place for Spring/Summer.

Cowiche Canyon

In the last post we saw about the Ancient lakes trail in the east of Washington. This time let us branch out on the way and take another scenic super-fast highway. The route to drive on is this. As usual I-90 will be great and on I-90, east of the Skiing Central Summit, you will have a huge surface of ice. I am still to figure out if it is just a plain land or a frozen lake. So we have to get more to the east and then we have to go towards Yakima taking I-82 E. This 30 odd miles drive on I-82 is something really awesome.

And the trail is very different. You can go up the canyon and walk along the rim for a longer hike or just cross the 11 bridges on the lovely stream of the river flowing there. The upland overlook trail is quite good to take and have a seat relax with a nice view on top. It is just a fun walk if you do not climb the canyon. So I would suggest to take the tougher hiking route. We did the simple walking trail on the bridges. Some of the pics taken are here(Courtesy: Arun Kalaiselvan). In the next posts, let us go to the Pacific side of Washington.

Ancient Lakes

So let us go further east on I-90 to a nice hiking trail. Just drive further east on I-90 till exit 149 and take the SR-281 to Quincy. Turn left on SR-28 and then drive to White Trail road. Turn left and drive 7 miles to Road-9 NW and then another 6 miles till end of road. You will have a desert trail. On the way, you should have some scenic viewpoints and I would suggest the Wild horses monument viewpoint. It is really good. You will have an amazing view of a bridge. Partial maps can be seen here.

And coming to the hike, this is not a strenuous one. It is a pretty cool desert hike. In spring, you will see some wild-flowers. We went a bit too early - so we were able to see only small flowers and no wild flowers. You will have a real good reason for the hike as well - the lakes. Those are in different colors and you have a surprise as well - a waterfall. :) If you really are adventurous and willing to take some risk, like me, climb to the top of the waterfalls and you will get a good view of the lakes. You can view some of our pictures here. This is a very good place to go hiking in Spring.

Snoqualmie, Washington

This is a very nice place to drive to from Seattle or Redmond/Bellevue area. The I-90 is having one of the best stretches here. There are quite some areas with Severe side winds ahead warnings and you will really feel it on your steering. You will have to hold tight to stick to the lane. The waterfalls is quite beautiful and you can trek down to the bottom of the waterfall as well. It is a nice trek. See some of our photos of snowfall and the water fall in Snoqualmie here.

Then Snoqualmie has 2 skiing summits now. The central and west summit. We had 3 before and one got closed down after the heavy snowfall in Dec '2008. The central summit is a good place for beginners and I personally have learnt skiing very quickly in the central summit. We start with the bunny hill slope to learn the fundamentals and then go on to the beginners' lift and then we have even skied on the Blue slopes. If you are willing to take more risk and pay a little more and spend your weekends in the snow, please take a seasonal pass. You will continue till the Black Diamond. :) See some of our skiing pictures here. I took a 3 day training and I was able to ski really fast and the confidence levels grow exponentially. This place is another good place to visit. Skiing season would be usually January-March and can extend out till mid-April.

Enroute Snoqualmie from Seattle, you can visit the factory outlet shops in North Bend. You will get some good shopping deals on the famous brands. In my next post, let us go further East on the I-90. :)

Mount Rainier

This guy is stunning. I enjoy every sight of him and my eyes get stuck to him every time I see Rainier from the WA-520 bridge. He is fully white and is snow-clad all over the year. I had been to the Mount Rainier National Park and it was a great trip.

You can go from the Seattle area to Mount Rainier National Park in this route. The key place we went to in the park is the Paradise point. We also went on the Glacier trail, saw Kautz Creek and trekked to Carter falls and Narada falls. The trek to the top of Carter falls is quite steep and was absolutely silent. There are so many forks of water coming and crossing them in the right places is fun. Do not put your legs in the water. Water is straight from the Glaciers.

You can see some of our pictures here. You have to visit multiple times to see the various places in the National Park.

Leavenworth, Washington

Let me start my travelog with a post on the very first weekend trip after coming to the US. It was Fall time and the fall colors are something which one has to see for sure.The trip was mainly for the drive on US-2. The road is really beautiful and you will get many wallpaper snaps. We followed the route as in here.

You can find our pictures here. Watch out for the scenic point after a bridge. You will see a palette of all colors. Leavenworth is a German village and there are some really great views near the lakes and the colors are simply amazing. So you have got a destination for the Fall season - LEAVENWORTH.