Cedar Falls and Driveway Butte in the North Cascades

We take two fun hikes at the eastern edge of the North Cascades near Winthrop, WA:  Cedar Falls and Driveway Butte. The Cedar Falls trail climbs gradually through fields to a two-tier waterfall (Cedar Falls).  The trees on the eastern side of the Cascades are more sparse, allowing the sun to reach the forest floor and encourage bouquets of flowers to line the trails.

As we leave Winthrop toward the trails, a rainbow appears over the mountains in the distance, offering the start of a great day.

Rainbow start to the day

Drive to the trailhead

We start hiking up the trail, climbing gradually toward the falls.

Starting up the trail

As we ascend, we get great views of the nearby peaks.

Views as we climb

Soon we hear flowing water and continue to the waterfall.

Cedar Falls

We watch for a while, then head back down to find our next hike.

Heading back down

Watch out for fawn

We continue further west on Washington State Highway 20 toward Washington Pass and a few miles closer to the pass, we stop at Driveway Butte, parking at the trailhead at an elevation of 2,950 feet (900 meters) and hiking up to about 4,000 feet (1,220 meters).  This trail passes through two forests, a mature pine forest to start, followed by a forest recovering from fire.

The trail starts as a gradually steepening hike through mature forest.

Trail starts up

Views of nearby peaks

Continuing up through fields and meadows

More great views

We continue on the trail, reaching the top after about an hour and returning (rather than continuing deeper into the mountains).

More great views

Heading back down

These two hikes have been a great introduction to the Northern Cascade Mountain Range and we are ready for some more serious hiking in the next few days (starting a few thousand feet higher and going several thousand feet up).