Media Contact: Amy Spain, 425-348-5802 x. 101, [email protected] Backyard Beauty in Snohomish County, Washington Think of Snohomish County as your gateway to some of the most incredible views on Puget Sound. And you can take in most of those views from the comfort of your car— or a Washington state ferry. From our national scenic byway you could spot a mountain goat grazing on a distant craggy peak, watch cascading waterfalls, or see hillsides awash in wildflowers, all in a morning's drive. There's plenty off-road scenery too. Stop to pluck your own fresh blueberries at a U-pick farm nestled up against the Cascades. Hop on a Washington State ferry in Edmonds or Mukilteo for some of the most spectacular views around Puget Sound and the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges. On the pages that follow is a sampling of some of the "drive-by-beauty" in Snohomish County. 1. A Loop drive you'll love Miners carved it out as a wagon road in 1891, but this route has always been richer in scenery than in precious metal. Drive the Mountain Loop Highway today and you'll quickly see why it was designated a National Scenic Byway a hundred years later, in 1991. The Mountain Loop highway is open from late May through October, and passes through boom- and-bust town sites and abandoned mining claims. You'll also see rushing rivers and glacier- clad peaks. It’s an easy morning or afternoon drive out of either Granite Falls to the south, or Darrington to the north. If you made no stops (but why wouldn’t you?), the drive would take you about an hour and a half. It’s a two-lane paved road for all but 14 miles, which turns into an oversized single-lane graded road two cars can just squeak onto. It’s perfectly safe though, as long as you drive slowly and use your headlights. From Darrington, the Mountain Loop starts out Page - 2 south on Forest Service Road 20 where you get incredible views of the designated Wild and Scenic River known as the Sauk. This stretch of cool, quick water is home to the largest Northwest population of bull trout, a federally listed sensitive species. There are lots of wheelchair accessible overlooks along the Forest Fees loop, but be sure to stop at the White Chuck Overlook. There you can scan the slopes of White Chuck Mountain You'll need to buy a $5 (Day pass) for goats along rocky outcrops. Below you are the remains permit to park at nearly all of an old railroad logging camp. trailheads on the Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest. That's As you continue west to Barlow Pass, try to envision a year-round. The only exception is volcano larger than Mount Rainier sitting right here. The the Heather Meadows area at Mt. surrounding peaks you’ll see were created by its lava flows Baker. 2,000-feet thick. Annual passes are $30. Pick one up at any Forest Service office. Or The remaining section of the scenic byway is paved and get one at the Snohomish County follows parts of the historic “tote road”, which prospectors Visitor Information Center at built to reach the mines at Monte Cristo. Floods washed Heritage Park (exit 181 off of I-5) out the paved road leading to that ghost town, but you in Lynnwood. Open 7 days a week can walk or mountain bike the 4-mile dirt road to reach it. from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. The Forest About half the town is still privately owned, so please Service uses the fees to pay for respect the no trespassing signs. trail repairs. About halfway around the loop you’ll come to the Big Four Picnic Area and trail leading to a viewpoint into the Big Four Ice Caves. In the 1920s thousands of tourists arrived here by train to stay in the swank Big Four Inn, which burned in 1949. But the lush meadow, beaver ponds, picnic area, and of course, the awesome view of Big Four Mountain remain. From the parking lot there’s a gentle 1-mile trail through a forest carpeted with wildflowers, and leading up to the Big Four Ice Caves. From the trail you can get a good look up into the “caves”, really tubes formed in the toe of an ice field by warm air flowing off the mountain in late spring and early summer. The ice caves are extremely dangerous, because tons of ice can come crashing down at any time. Please don’t enter the ice caves, just look. The next four miles of the loop take you past a mother lode of mining history. Look for old mine tunnels, traces of the long abandoned railroad, and remnants of ghost towns. Between Marble Peak and Blackjack Ridge hung a 9,000 foot-long tramway bringing ore down to the railroad from the Forty-five Mine over the divide into the Sultan Basin. At the Gold Basin Campground, you can see what’s left of an old lumber and shingle mill. Across the highway there’s an excavated millpond that now provides a safe haven for young salmon year-round. There’s a wheelchair-accessible, interpretive trail that tells the story of the former mill and now wildlife area. Great Blue Herons are often seen along the trail. Page - 3 Further down the road at the Lake 22 Research Natural Area, you wander through an old growth forest of red cedar and hemlock, some more than 700 years old. The RNA is also home to the elusive marbled murrelet, a seabird on the federal threatened species list. The only murrelet nests ever found in Washington State are in this forest. And, keep your eyes peeled for the infamous spotted owl, which lives in old growth all along the Mountain Loop. Granite Falls is the other starting point of the Mountain Loop Highway. It sits in the shadow of Mt. Pilchuck. Stop by the Granite Falls fish ladder just before leaving the loop highway. It’s a great place to see salmon and steelhead making their way back to spawning grounds in the late summer and early fall. The Cascade Loop is a much longer 400-mile drive, crossing the Cascades twice. From I-5, follow signs to US 2 and Stevens Pass. You’ll pass through the towns of Snohomish, Monroe, Sultan, Gold Bar, Startup and Index before heading across Stevens Pass into the Tyrolean village of Leavenworth on the eastern flank of the Cascades. Continue into Wenatchee, and then follow the mighty Columbia River north on Highway 97 to Pateros. From there head east on State Highway 153 to the town of Twisp, where the road turns into the North Cascades Highway 20. It passes through the western-theme town of Winthrop before climbing over two spectacular mountain passes. Highway 20 ends in Rockport, where you’ll take State Highway 530 into Darrington to connect to the Mountain Loop or return to I-5. (509) 662-3888 or www.cascadeloop.com. 2. Fossil Finds The whole Northwest was under water during the time dinosaurs roamed our planet, but that makes it easy to find the remains of that sea life today. Here are some good spots to find fossils: • 4 miles up the road turning off to the Big Four Ice Caves look for a wide turnout with two vandalized markers with a thick bed of black shale protruding from the road. As you step out of your car, chances are good that you’ll crush a plant fossil or two. Glacial forces pushed fossilized plants and sea life up into what are now the Cascade Mountains. • A mile up the road is Coal Lake, one of the county’s most accessible alpine lakes…it’s only 40 feet from the parking lot. More fossils await you there. 3. Tips from locals on spotting Washington’s “hidden” volcano, Glacier Peak At 10,500 feet, it’s the state’s fourth highest peak. It’s tough to spot though because it’s tucked away deep in the Cascades. When Glacier Peak erupted 12,000 years ago, it blew with three times the force of the last Mount St. Helen’s eruption. Ash from Glacier Peak has been found all over the Northwest. You can spot it from Highway 530 between Arlington and Darrington. Heading east to Darrington, start looking straight ahead between milepost 41-43. If you get to the Whitehorse Mercantile, you’ve gone too far! Or from the Mountain Loop Highway, turn off Forest Page - 4 Service Road 20 onto White Chuck Road, and then go to the end of White Chuck Trail. 4. Why the name “Big Four”? Big Four is best known for its ice caves, which are formed in a snowfield avalanched from the mountain. The “caves”, are actually tubes that form late in the summer as warm air flows downslope and under the snowpack. The mountain gets its name from the way snow melts off it each spring, leaving a big “4” on its north face. 5. Waterfalls to Watch There are 18 waterfalls to watch, but some of the prettiest don’t require leaving your car. Others are easy to reach on foot: 1. Bridal Veil Falls …Widen and careen down, forming two wispy veils in the summer. Visible from US Hwy 2 about 1/4 mile east of the turnoff to Index. 2. Sunset Falls … About 1.5 miles east of Index also off US Highway 2.