On Friday it was time to continue on the Cascade Loop and head inland. I left Whidbey Island via the ferry between Clinton (on the south end of the island) and Mukilteo. I took a detour on my way out of town via Redmond. I was keen to fill up a growler (a half gallon glass jug) with some Mac & Jack’s African Amber Ale.
*As a total aside, can I just say I love this growler culture? There are so many microbreweries around Washington and the best way to take larger quantities of beer home is via the growler.*
Stopping off in Redmond gave me a chance to do something I missed out on earlier on in the trip – lunch at Chipotle! My favourite fast food joint that sadly is not up in Canada… From there it was time to drive up into the Cascades through Stevens Pass. I stopped for two wee little hikes (if you can call them that). The first was a little one mile loop to see Deception Falls. Beautiful, and a pretty little hike!
The second was the Iron Goat Trail. This trail is about 9 miles long and follows an old abandoned railway grade line. I got about half a mile in and I realized that this was not a busy trail. Most hikers prefer less busy trails, but when you are on your own…hiking isn’t really a great solo activity. Not wanting to become part of a news story that you would see on 20/20 I decided to practice my trail running skills and hightailed it out of there. But check out the amazing concrete wall that was erected to support snow sheds. 
This thing was long, didn’t make it to the end before I turned around! I would have like to see the snow tunnels, but it was still over a mile away from this point.
A short while later I arrived at my destination for the next two nights, Leavenworth…
too bad you couldn’t explore the 2nd trail, but i hear ya on playing it safe.
Good call not taking an extended solo hike! Looks beautiful in there, though.
Looks beautiful out there.
And that growler thing sounds absolutely the way to go!