North Cascades Highway

Be sure and gas up in Marblemount or Twisp.

Also make sure it’s open over the passes. :-)

Impossible shapes of granite sweep towards the sky.

Liberty Bell Mountain seems to block any passage but then a great bend and you seemingly climb right up the face of the mountain.

I love the drive (only open from late spring to late November) whenever I go, but two times are especially worthwhile: In late summer (August) the alpine meadows break into bloom with mountain wildflowers.

Later, as the leaves in the valley at Newhalem change and cover the road, it is more like a drive on the eastern seaboard than in the evergreen forests more common on the west coast.

Take time to stop at all the viewpoints – each offers a distinctive view. This is nowhere more true than in the case of the two major lakes along the way:

Ross lake is a much lighter and almost teal in colour;

while Ross lake is a deep rich jade…

The difference comes from the amount of rock dust suspended in the lake (the result of past glacial and current water action on the granite mountains) and the relative balance between reflecting the green of the forest and the blue of the sky.