As it does every year, the Washington State Department of Transportation has closed State Highway 20, commonly known as the North Cascades Highway. This incredibly scenic road is the most northerly route through the Cascade Mountains in the USA. Winter storms dump a lot of snow in this area, and there is a high danger of avalanches in several spots along the highway.
The road will stay closed until enough snow melts to lessen avalanche danger and make it possible for snow plows to safely clear the route. Most years, that is sometime in April, but it’s not unheard of for the road to be closed into May.
Many people don’t realize that only a portion of the highway is closed, and that it’s still possible to drive to some great places for access to North Cascades National Park and the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. The highway is gated just east of Diablo Dam and a few miles west of Winthrop in the Methow Valley, preventing access to the Washington Pass area at the crest of the Cascades.
On the western side of the Cascades, there’s no problem getting to the Rockport area to see and photograph one of the largest winter congregations of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. See my earlier blog post on viewing the bald eagles on the Skagit River.
The photo above shows the highway in the area of the big hairpin turn in Early Winters Valley just below Liberty Bell and the Early Winters Spires. It was taken from the overlook at Washington Pass, soon after an early winter storm but before the snow had accumulated enough to close the road.
For more information about State Highway 20, check the WSDOT website. Some of the great locations for landscape and nature photography accessible via North Cascades Highway are detailed in my book Photographing Washington.
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