G.A.S.P.

Ross Lake

We decided to bypass Winthrop for breakfast the next morning (8-9) in favor of riding to the next town, Mazama, where we found a really nice Inn (lodging and restaurant). The day’s bike ride was another mountain pass and another long downhill. Actually, we were quite fortunate with the "spacing" of the major climbs as I wouldn’t have wanted to do more than one in a day. Four in four days was bad enough. On paper (i.e. map), this was the toughest pass we had faced in Washington – a 17 mile climb to Washington Pass at 5477’ elevation. From Mazama we could see some snow capped peaks of the North Cascades, and it just got more beautiful throughout the day. Near the top the grade got steeper, with the last two miles being as steep as anything I’ve encountered since Mt. Rushmore (my guess is at least 8%). It was well worth the effort, however, as we were rewarded with magnificent views from the top (including those found with a short ride to the "overlook" maintained by the National Forest Service). Washington Pass is nearly as spectacular as Logan Pass in Glacier NP, and it isn’t even an actual part of the North Cascades NP. The ride down the other side was just as great – snow capped peaks of the North Cascades on the left and the beautiful Granite Creek (looked just like McDonald Creek in Glacier) on the right. The views of Ross Lake (from a few hundred feet above) and the surrounding mountains were especially nice. We spent the night in a NPS campground (Colonial Creek) on the shores of Diablo Lake.