North Cascades Getaways

A great hike for kids, Twin Lakes is a short and relatively easy trail through mature forest to a shallow mountain lake where you can search for frogs and giant salamanders. The rushing sound of Cold Creek, which the trail follows to the lake, is your constant companion.

A great hike for all ages at any time of the year, the Old Sauk River Trail meanders through deep lush forest and mossy vegetation, winding in and out from the riverbank around side streams, pools and ponds.

May is an ideal month to hike Patterson Mountain, when its slopes are carpeted in a colorful sea of lupine, larkspur and balsamroot. Just outside Winthrop, the four-mile, kid-friendly hike offers views of the surrounding snowcapped Sawtooth Range, Mount Gardner and Robinson Mountain, as well as of sparkling Patterson Lake below.

A splendid river walk, the Middle Fork trail leads you 14 miles through virgin forests and across picturesque tributary streams to the headwaters of the Middle Fork. Experience wilderness that so many are working hard to preserve through the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Additions and the Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers Protection Act, which recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Majestic, lush and inspiring are just three words that come to mind when describing the Boulder River Wilderness Area’s 48,674 acres of forests. This pristine area was set aside by Congress as part of the 1984 Washington Wilderness Act.