It took more than a day to get everything packed up - we are a bit out of practice for camping, and Julie is hoping to create a few of our more interesting camping meals, so lots of cooking accessories and prep are needed. Eventually we got it all in, and managed to hit the road before 9.
Neither of us are used to driving very far due to COVID-19 – I’d only been more than fifteen miles from home once in the past three months – so the eight hour drive to Pearrygin Lake State Park felt really long and uncomfortable. I guess it did not help that I had been crawling underneath the trailer a few times in the previous days getting it ready to go.
It was good to see Oscar again. We had a nice dinner with side-by-side comparison of Beyond Burgers and Impossible Meat patties. Impossible is better, but Beyond Burgers are fine. We accompanied those with some cole slaw and potato salad and a very nice Graziano Zinfandel: the 2015 Reserve Casa Pacini Old Vine Zinfandel. After dinner we strolled up toward the south-east end of the lake just after the sun went down.
After a rough night of Daisy being ready to start exploring at four in the morning, we had muffins for breakfast, then went for a walk around the lake. There were some nice views of the lake from the southwest side.
The day started off very pleasant and sunny, but by the time we returned to camp, it was uncomfortably hot. We had a leisurely lunch, then Oscar drove into Winthrop. He’d made a tele-medicine appointment with a doctor, but it turned out to be a bust - something about how they could not do anything because he was out of the state. Oscar was upset because the appointment was why we’d taken a fairly short hike for the day, but it was nice that Julie and I were able to familiarize ourselves with the area a bit more. We had spent a couple nights in the park a decade or so ago, but had spent the days in the northern Cascades.
We whiled away the afternoon with some books, iPad games, and conversation. Then we spent another hour or so putting together a dinner of spicy tri-tip from Werner’s, grilled vegetables, and salads left from the previous night.
After dinner we strolled to the north where the park is being expanded. We talked for a while with an interesting Parks employee about the renovation plans and the people working for the Park while the sunset put on a spectacular show.
We all slept at least a little better and a bit longer. We had muffins and yoghurt for breakfast, then headed up Highway 20 for some hiking.
Oscar had forgotten that the Maple Pass trail, one of his favorites, did not have its own trailhead, so we drove a ways beyond most of the trailheads before realizing it couldn’t possibly be in front of us and turning around. We ended up at the Easy Pass trailhead, another favorite, which was fortunate in the end because it starts at a lower elevation, so it took longer for us to run into snow, and this trailhead’s parking lot was empty, unlike all the other ones we saw.
For future reference: Maple Pass is accessed from the Rainy Pass trailhead.
On our hike up the Easy Pass trail, we found a nice lunch spot about two miles in. The day had started out cloudy, but it cleared up during lunch.
Shortly after our lunch stop we found a fair amount of snow and lost the trail. We scouted around for probably most of an hour before locating the trail. Unfortunately the new-found trail quickly reached a roaring creek with no bridge or clear crossing so we finally gave up and turned back.
We stopped at the Washington Pass scenic overlook on the drive back. The gate on the road to the overlook was closed, so we walked at least half a mile to some spectacular views of the valley that Highway 20 runs through as it leaves the mountains.
Coming out of the mountains we watched the car thermometer rise from seventy degrees up in the mountains to the mid-eighties down at the lake. By the time we got back to camp it was too late for Julie’s original dinner plans so we had some of the leftover tri-tip and vegetables with guacamole on tortillas.
We have discovered that Pearrygin Lake State Park is home to a large population of marmots. They are not shy, especially the ones right in the campground area. While they are not bold enough to expect hand-outs, they do not seem to fear dogs.
We set up the trailer’s outdoor stove that we’ve only used a few times and Julie made omelettes for breakfast with grilled asparagus we saved from Thursday’s dinner and the left-over Impossible burger from the first night.
Oscar drove into town for a while to get phone reception in order to “hold” his mail, then we headed up Highway 20 again to go hiking. We went to the Cutthroat Lake trailhead, but it has two parking lots that were both full, so we backtracked a bit to the Lone Fir Campground, which has a two mile interpretive loop trail. Unfortunately the creek seems to be re-routing itself, so a raised walkway over what used to be a marsh was washed out and now needed an actual bridge to cross, so the loop was “broken”. A few of the other bridges really needed repair, especially one near the start of the trail. The advantage to this was that very few people hiked on it. Because we had a bit of a late start, we ate lunch at the near side of the “break”.
It had sprinkled a few times overnight at the campground, then the day started out cloudy and a little cooler. During our hike it slowly cleared and began warming up. We followed the loop most of the way around to the other end of the “break”, although we gave up just shy of the end because of another damaged bridge. Then we explored an un-maintained spur trail that went further up the creek to a thundering rapids. We had to clamber over and under some trees, but there was a rewarding rock perch just above the rushing creek with a great view.
We returned to Pearrygin Lake State Park around five and tried to arrange to stay an additional day at our sites. Then we grilled some green chilis to make chili rellenos from La Casa Cena cookbook while drinking another bottle of Oscar’s Graziano 2015 Reserve Casa Pacini Old Vine Zinfandel.
After the chilis had “sweated” for a while, I built a fire in the pizza oven while Julie stuffed the chilis with corn, raisins, pine nuts, and goat cheese. We put them in a cast iron frying pan and sprinkled some cheese on top and heated them in the pizza oven for a few minutes. They turned out really nicely - the chilis had good flavor, but were not too spicy, and Julie had made and frozen molé a couple months ago, and that made a great sauce.
We strolled a little further than usual after dinner, having eaten a little earlier. We stopped at a group campsite and sat for a few minutes while the dogs ran around exploring. It was a pleasant spot and a nice little break, but unfortunately Higgins snagged himself with several large, prickly burrs.
The State Park has purchased an adjoining property that used to be an RV park. They’re working on expanding things so it is all one bigger park. The RV park has a number of fragrant trees that look a bit like Russian olive trees.
Julie made pancakes and non-meat maple sausage patties for breakfast. The oatmeal pancakes were good but the patties cannot be recommended.
It was quite warm and sunny by the time we started walking the Rex Derr trail in the park. We climbed a small ridge overlooking the lake.
The walk was pleasant for most of us, but Higgins kept pushing his nose into bushes and weeds trying to dislodge the Gentle Leader. In doing so he covered his face with burrs. This resulted in a cycle of frustration and we cut the walk short.
By this time it was hot in the sun, but tolerable in the shade due to the breeze. Oscar went into town to pick up a few things while we set up the pizza oven. When he returned we made four pizzas. Two were intended to be Reuben pizzas, but we used canned corned beef instead of pastrami – another thing we cannot recommend. We used some leftover molé as the sauce for one topped with green chiles, zucchini, pine nuts, and cheddar – that was good. The final one was fig balsamic vinegar, blue cheese, pine nuts, dried figs, and spinach. This was delicious, and all accompanied with a nice Zinfandel from Dutcher Crossing.
We hurriedly put the pizza stuff away and headed back up Highway 20 to the Cutthroat Lake trail. There were only about a dozen cars in the trailhead parking lot when we arrived at five PM on a Sunday. This is a two mile hike up a gentle grade in a scenic valley to a lake surrounded by steep, rocky, and snowy slopes.
While the slope is mild, there was one very tricky creek crossing.
We made it back to the truck by 7:30 and found it saying “Low Fuel”. It had indicated nearly a quarter tank when leaving Winthrop, but it does read higher while going uphill. Anyway, we had some anxiety while heading back down the hill, but made it to a gas station.
Back at camp we began packing for a departure the next morning.
A few clips from this portion of the trip: