Methow Valley ~ Winthrop, WA
This post is from a winter getaway we did in February. Life has been a bit complicated since we returned creating the delay in this post.
Feb 8-11, 2021
Liz and I did a short winter getaway for some great cross country skiing in the Methow Valley.
Winthrop, WA, which is considered to be the gateway to the North Cascades, is in the heart of the valley with Mazama at the center of the western end of the trail system.
The Methow Trails System consists of over 120 miles of interconnected trails is the largest nordic trail system in North America. The area is surrounded by a million acres of wilderness and forest lands while the valley has vast wide open meadows along the Methow River. We have enjoyed this area on previous trips and have always been very fortunate to have bright sunny days on our visits. We were not disappointed this time and once again enjoyed lots of sunshine. As well as winter trails, you can find lots of summer trails for mountain biking. Not all winter trails are open for summer use and vice versa.
Accomodations
We stayed at Sun Mountain Lodge. Of course, with the Covid-19 pandemic still not under control, staying Sun Mountain was somewhat altered from what used to be ‘normal’. Meals were available for pickup from the kitchen to take back to the room, but the dining area was closed. We ordered dinner once and breakfasts for all mornings of our stay from a limited selection that was offered.
The room was nice but it did need some updating. The general feel of the room was ‘tired’ and basically could use some maintenance and general repair. We commented to each other that we really miss our trailer.
The Skiing
The skiing was great as it has always been for us in the Winthrop area. This trip was particularly fun for us because we had just updated our cross country skis to skin technology. Our previous skis had scales on the bottom for grip and glide where our new skis have si=kin material like back country skiers use. the skis perform amazingly well in comparison and the glide is incredible.
The first day we started at Mazama and headed east towards Winthrop.
On day 2 we again started at Mazama and went west to the Bush School trailhead and explored around that area as well as Early Winters.
Day 3 we started at the Bush School Trailhead and did Upper River Run and Jack’s Trails. When we were gearing up we had an interesting fellow drive up and asked if we wanted an avocado which we found rather funny because Liz had said at breakfast that morning that she would really like to have an avocado. We got quite a laugh over that and of course took the avocado and had a nice conversation with the guy.
All 3 days were in the 6-9 mile range and conditions were great. We chose to do the Mazama trails because the scenery and open spaces are so great when it is sunny out.
The getaway was a nice diversion from the turmoil at home, which is whole other story involving plumbing and a lot of repairs in our basement and a falling out with a contractor. We always enjoy a cross country ski trip to the Methow Valley and look forward to going back next season.
View Photos From This Trip HERE