Go Northwest!

Ashford, Washington

I’m visiting Ashford, Washington for the weekend to attend the town’s “On the Road to Paradise” First Annual Spring Wine Tasting event on Saturday. First stop was to check in with Jasmer’s Cabins at Mount Rainier to pick up a key and directions to my cabin for the weekend. Met my hosts and owners of Jasmer’s Cabins, Luke and Tanna. They greeted me with a warm welcome and cheerfully provided answers to my questions about the area.

Luke and Tanna had chosen a newly remodeled cabin for me located in a quiet location yet not far from the town of Ashford, nearby restaurants and the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. Cabin was fully equipped with TV, hot tub, and barbeque. Very comfortable and restful place to stay, yet close to the mountain and various services.

There’s more than meets the eye at Ashford, Washington. First impression is that of a sleepy little community that’s not much more than a speed bump along State Route 706 for slowing down the traveler in a hurry to reach Mount Rainier National Park and experience the grandeur of the 14,410-foot mountain that is the centerpiece of the park.

On one side of the highway, you’ll find the US Post Office and Suver’s General Store. On the other side, you’ll see several buildings including a restaurant and a small complex of buildings known as Rainier Basecamp that house a number of local merchants and businesses including Whittaker’s Bunkhouse; Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.; Summit Haus and the Mt. Rainier Visitor Association’s visitor center.

What’s unseen are dozens and dozens of cabins offering rest and respite in beautiful natural settings including creeks and forest canopies scattered in and among the woods on either side, up and down and off the highway leading to Mount Rainier. The cabins also make excellent base camps for lingering in the area to truly get to know the mountain and enjoy it’s many attractions including wildlife, old-growth forests, creeks and rivers, wild flowers, hiking trails and incredible scenery.

Other options for accommodations in and near Ashford include bed and breakfasts, vacation rental properties and inns and lodges.

Tanna Osterhaus, who, with her husband Luke, owns Jasmer’s Cabins at Mt. Rainier, says, “People who visit Rainier for just a day or night often don’t come back. But people who stay two days wish they could stay longer and often do come back.” The latter are the ones who discover there is much to enjoy and appreciate the time to slow down, disengage from worldly affairs, and relax in one of the most beautiful and remarkable places in the world.

9:15 AM Wow! What a Weekend in Leavenworth, Washington. Last night attended the town’s ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the long-awaited opening of Amtrak’s new Icicle Station and the return of passenger service to Leavenworth. And today, its day two of the annual Autumn Leaf Festival.

First stop, however, is my morning latte! Discovered a new coffee house here earlier in the month when I came over for a general membership meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and discovered Haus Dog Kaffee & Tea.

The family-owned coffee and tea house is conveniently located on the west end of Front Street and is within easy walking distance of the several area hotels and the center of town main attractions.

The owners, Regina and Klaus Ulmke, have created a delightful European-style coffee and tea house featuring Italy’s LaVazza Espresso coffees and Harrisons & Crosfield English Teas plus an assortment of baked goods, fruits, jams and condiments all served in a setting of attractive wooden tables and chairs, colorful blue umbrellas, decorative place settings and an abundance of flowers in front of the backdrop of Icicle Ridge and the Cascade Mountains.

7:00 PM Let the Celebration Begin!

Music, dancing and food greet dozens of guests arriving for the festivities and ribbon-cutting ceremony  to celebrate the opening of Icicle Station in Leavenworth, Washington and to welcome the first inaugural run of new passenger train service along Amtrak’s Empire Builders route between Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington.

8:08 PM. Supporters of the new Icicle Station in Leavenworth line the long length of the railroad platform as Amtrak’s Empire Builder slows to a crawl and them stops to allow more than 70 passengers who had boarded in Seattle to disembark and participate in the ceremony commemorating the opening of the new station and passenger service.

The ceremony concludes with comments, congratulations and thanks from Mayor Rob Eaton and a variety of other dignitaries representing the city of Leavenworth, Washington State, Amtrak and BNSF.

Folks interested in visiting Leavenworth by train can call Amtrak at 800-872-7245 for reservations, or, book online through Amtrak’s web site.

Leavenworth, a city nestled on the eastern side of Washington’s Cascade Mountains, recreated itself decades ago as a Bavarian Village and is one of the most popular destinations in Washington State and the Pacific Northwest. The city is an all-season destination featuring numerous indoor and outdoor activities and attractions. Accommodations abound whether your preference is camping, cabins, hotels, bed and breakfast accommodations, or vacation rental houses.

Icicle Station, Leavenworth, Washington

3:43 PM. At first glance, the railroad tracks and train station platform seen in the above photo could be almost anywhere in the United States. What’s unique, however is that Icicle Station at Leavenworth, Washington is the first Amtrak new station to be built in the last several years and restores passenger rail service to one of the most popular destination sites in the Pacific Northwest.

Friday, September 25th, 2009 marked the celebration and dedication of Icicle Station and the restoration of rail service to Leavenworth. In the scene above, construction crews ready the platform for the evening event which will commence in just a couple of hours.

In preparation for the event, crews clean the area of construction debris, check lighting, put finishing touches on signage and make sure train schedules are coordinated to allow Amtrak’s Empire Builder to stop at the new station and allow some 70 dignitaries to disembark who boarded in Seattle to participate in the inaugural ride. Current construction is stage one of several stages to be completed in the near future. Additional covered seating areas and shelters are to be added along with permanent fencing to replace the temporary orange safety barrier.

Chuck Taylor

Chuck Taylor, a BNSF Railway flagger, explained that the main line running through here is heavily traveled by freight trains throughout the day. The freight trains typically pass through at speeds in excess of 50 mph, and Amtrak usually is flying by at 70 mph or more. To accommodate tonight’s special event, freight trains have been routed to the outer track, or siding, while Amtrak makes it’s first scheduled stop at approximately 8:15 PM. Between now and until after this evening’s ceremony the freights will slow to about 25 mph as they pass Icicle Station. Seen below is one of the several freight trains that came along during the late afternoon and early evening.

SR 129 Dropping Down To the Grande Ronde River: 4:39 PM

South of the small community of Anatone and the wheat fields,  SR 129 passes the 792-acre Fields Spring State Park on the east side of the highway. This is a camping park providing views of three states and the Grande Ronde River from Puffer Butte.

Beyond the park, the highway soon begins a steep descent down a narrow canyon loosely following the course of Rattlesnake Creek to the Grande Ronde River as seen in the photo below.

Looking south at the highway descending numerous switchbacks.

Numerous viewpoint pullouts along the way provide opportunities to stop for photos and take in the splendid views.

Across the river, the highway begins a twisting upward climb through the distant canyon seen in the above photo and becomes Oregon SR 3, the Enterprise-Lewiston Highway, at the Oregon border.

Once out of the canyon, the highway seemingly flattens and runs south almost straight as an arrow to Enterprise, Oregon and the beautiful Wallowa Valley. Along the way it flows through a forest corridor and runs by a pullout that is the Joseph Canyon Viewpoint. The elevation along here, surprisingly, is more than 4,000 feet with a high point of 4,693 feet as announced by a summit sign in the proximity of the intersection of Day Ridge Road.

Having driven a distance of slightly less than 90 miles from Lewiston, we enter the Wallowa Valley with a backdrop of the magnificent Wallowa Mountains in the distance.

Next Stop: Enterprise, Oregon

Viewpoint Overlooking Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington: 1:56 PM

Following lunch at Colfax, Washington, we continued south on State Route 195 intending to pass through  Lewiston, Idaho toward our day’s destination at Enterprise, Oregon. (An easy side trip is to stop at Pullman, Washington and the campus of Washington State University.)

Leaving the gentle hills of the Palouse, SR 195 rises and falls to rise again at it crosses the border into Idaho and joins US Highway 95 in approaching Lewiston. The highway seems to flatten a bit just briefly and then runs southeast a short distance before curving again to the east. At this curve is a viewpoint on the south side of the highway at a spur which affords views toward the south.

For a person unaware of the nature of the local topography, the view can be a jaw-dropping experience as the landscape suddenly changes. One discovers that the cities of Lewiston and Clarkston lie some 1,000 feet below the highway on either side the Snake River.

In the above photo looking south from the highway viewpoint, the camera has flattened the rather steep 1,000-foot descent. The highway seen in the photo is the Old Spiral Highway descending down from the spur. The Clearwater River is flowing from the left side of the photo to join the Snake River as the Snake exits Hells Canyon and passes between Lewiston on the left and Clarkston on the right.

Driving a loop tour in, through, and skirting the Hell’s Canyon National Recreation Area is an exercise in ups and downs accompanied by incredibly beautiful scenery offering loads of photo ops plus museum visits, history, culture, agriculture, forests, lakes, rivers, mountains and state and national scenic byways.

The tour can start and end from any of the following cities and towns: Clarkston, Colfax, Pullman or Spokane, Washington; Enterprise or Joseph, Oregon; Cambridge, Council, Grangeville, Lewiston or McCall, Idaho.

My trip log from a recent three-day tour of the loop showed a total of 730 miles driven with 15-1/2 hours behind the wheel at an average drive-time speed of 44.9 miles per hour. The entire route was over well-maintained two-lane, rural highways free of any construction delays.

The trip started and ended in Spokane, Washington with only one section backtracked. That section is the 106 miles between Spokane and Lewiston.

You can avoid the backtrack by including Moscow and Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho within the tour. The addition of these two cities adds only about 40 miles and increases the drive time only by about 50 minutes. Added attractions include the University of Idaho at Moscow, and scenic Lake Coeur d’ Alene.

See this Google map for the route as driven. And here’s the Google map showing the inclusion of Moscow and Coeur d’Alene to avoid the backtrack.

Passengers arriving Friday Harbor are greeted with a splinded view of Friday Harbor with it’s marina of sail and power boats backed onshore with restaurants, coffee houses, and offices and kioks featuring whale watching and sea kayaking outings.