Friday, July 3, 2009

Wenatchee River and Leavenworth

Ben and I both had the day free today and decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather. Ben had never been to Leavenworth, WA so we planned a little day trip to the middle of the state.

We researched some hikes in the area and found one about 3 miles outside of downtown. It was the Tumwater Pipeline Trail, a trail that crosses the Wenatchee River and follows it for about a mile. It was a really easy "hike," probably more fair to called it a "walk." The scenery was beautiful and quite historic. Here is the history:

The Great Northern Railway abandoned its route over Stevens Pass and opted to go under the pass instead. It was too difficult to keep up with the snowfall on the tracks each winter. The exhaust-emitting steam engines were a problem while going through the long tunnel so the line switched over to electric engines between Skykomish and Leavenworth. The railroad built a dam to generate the power for the trains, but in the late 1950's the railroad switched to diesel and abandoned the pipeline and power plant. The trail starts at the site of the power plant and at the large iron bridge that used to carry pipeline across the river.

The bridge offers amazing views of the Wenatchee River and Cascade Mountains. We hoped to see some brave kayakers and river rafters floating down stream but no such luck today.Once we crossed the bridge we followed the trail through Tumwater Canyon. We reached a side creek at about the 1/2 mile mark and had to rock-hop across. Mae-Mae-Demmy aren't the most coordinated folks in the world so this was quite comical! As we continued on the trail we noticed swimmers in the river below. We broke off of the main trail and ventured down to the river to cool off. It was in the upper 90's at this point and we were HOT!The water was PAINFULLY cold, but dipping our feet in helped cool us off for a moment. The trail was covered with wild flowers and Maple and Cottonwood trees, that we hear come fall are beautiful shades of orange and red. As we continued on we noticed "Castle Rock" across the river. Obviously a favorite amongst rock climbers, see the white spec on the top of the rock to the right? One rock climber who has conquered and made it to the top!The trail ends at about 1.2 miles (more of a walk, than a hike! :) where a tunnel once bore for the pipeline. At this point we turned around and headed into town. Leavenworth is a cute little Bavarian town nestled in the mountains. It was very crowded with tourists today, so we only spent a short amount of time there. We had lunch at Baren Haus and each had a Schnitzel Sandwich!The homemade roll was fantasic! For a place we just stumbled upon we were quite pleased.Next we did a little shopping and then headed home! It was a great day despite being nearly 100 degrees outside!

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