Doing the Cascade Loop - The Methow Valley

Finding a new waterfall, a detour among the wildflowers, and going off road for a mountain view.

We were on a quest to find a waterfall we’d read about but never seen before. It’s located off of the paved National Forrest Road 51, and just a short walk from the road. Did you know there are at least 3 different waterfalls named ‘Falls Creek Falls’ in Washington state? This is one of them.

We shared the view with a few others who were staying at a nearby campground, and spent most of our morning just hanging out and taking it in. I love the sound of the water!

After lunch we decided to take the long way back and do a little exploring. We found ourselves on Wolf Creek Road – an unpaved county road. We had seen some lupin as we came over the pass, but I had no idea it was wildflower season in the valley. Of course we had to stop and take pictures. Lots of pictures.

Next; after a coffee; we set off to explore another National Forrest Road - 5225. The road leads to the trailhead for Goat Peak lookout. This is a 3.7 mile hike with an1400 ft elevation gain that we didn’t feel up for, but we were hoping to see some good views from the road.

Unlike the National Forrest Road we were on earlier in the day, this one wasn’t very well maintained.  The going was very, very slow in our car with very little ground clearance. It takes a long time to get anywhere when you can only go 10 mph.

As we continued, we began to get promising peeks of the view we might get if we could manage to get high enough. After about an hour of slow, bumpy, jerky moving (with occasional stops) we reached a big clearing with a big view.

Maybe next time around we’ll get the hike in. And bring a vehicle with a little more ground clearance. Next: we move to apple country.