- Washington Pass—accessible only about half of the year—is a stretch of the North Cascades Highway boasting steep mountains, year-round glaciers, and a gorgeous alpine forest. This section of State Route 20 climbs to elevations over 5,500 feet and is covered by up to 40 feet of snow between late Fall and early Summer. A short side road near a hairpin turn leads to the Washington Pass Overlook, where visitors can enjoy a short paved trail leading to a spectacular viewpoint. Looming above the overlook are the slopes of a breathtaking array of alpine peaks and pinnacles, including the rounded dome of Liberty Bell and the twin peaks of the North and South Early Winter Spires. This landscape is immensely popular with rock climbers, who scramble up the sheer slopes to reach high vantage points with views of Kangaroo Ridge to the east and the glacier-carved Methow River valley to the north.
- Crowberry Bog Natural Area Preserve (dnr.wa.gov)
This 321-acre preserve protects the only known example of a “raised plateau” bog in the western coterminous United States, as well as occurrences of a state-candidate butterfly species, a state-sensitive plant, and two rare moss species. Raised plateau bogs have a central plateau that is noticeably elevated above the surrounding land due to thousands of years of peat accumulation slowly building up the surface of the bog. In the case of Crowberry Bog, the center of the plateau is approximately nine feet higher than the surrounding land. This creates ombotrophic conditions, meaning the bog only receives water and nutrients from direct precipitation rather than from the surrounding landscape. Vegetation in the bog is adapted to these conditions and includes plants such as sphagnum moss, bog laurel, Labrador tea, bog cranberry and black crowberry - after which the bog is named.