More of the Cascade Rail Trail

January, 2014, was my month to do some miles on the Pacific Northwest Trail. I finished up hiking the Cascade Rail Trail, a popular alternate route of the PNT which may eventually become part of the official route someday. I had hiked most of the Cascade Trail during winter break, except a 3 mile section that I did around mid January. I really liked the trail, although the sections that go through Concrete or close to towns could use a little clean up/trash collection. The final 3 mile section I finally remembered to take a trash bag with me and did my part to beautify the trail, ending up with a full bag of trash. Here are some of the things I saw along the way.

A view of the Skagit River through the trees

The old concrete silos welcome visitors to Concrete

The post office in Concrete is right next to the trail, along with an old rail car

Challenger Ridge Winery

Birdsview Brewery

I stopped for a little lunch on a bench here. This is close to where the trail pops out to a road for a few hundred feet.

Near Hamilton someone has decorated the trail by nailing their beer tops to the railings

A natural tree tunnel near Lyman. It actually felt a little creepy.

Cool old truck

A herd of buffalo close to where the trail crosses Hwy 20

Frost made these bridges extremely slippery. Even the nonskid center was slick! I held the handrail all the way across.

Looking east at the snow covered Cascades