May-June, 2023
I spent part of today simply driving down the road, then back up the road … the road that follows along beside Icicle Creek, the road from Eightmile Campground down to Leavenworth, then back up to Eightmile Campground. First I drove down-river towards Leavenworth. But before I got into Leavenworth, I turned around and drove back up-river along Icicle Creek back to the campground. I stopped often. And took photos. 🙂
Here I am (below) early on in the drive down-river.
I drove on down-river stopping shortly for this view (below) where I wasn’t looking at the river at all, but was looking back up at a hillside of solid rock behind me.
When I looked closer at that rock wall behind me, I saw a woman starting to climb up that rock wall. So I walked back and took a photo. She waved, she was ok with the photo. And I waved back.
And then I noticed there were climbing pins and lines all the way up that rock wall, WAY above her. Then I noticed a vehicle nearby with a person simply standing and watching her. That other person, she was the spotter and was there to help in an emergency. I later learned that the rock walls along this road are commonly used by people who are learning to be rock climbers. Cool! [Go back and take a look at the first photo above of this rock wall, look at the very bottom and you’ll see a TINY pink image (this woman) and then look how far up this rock climbing wall goes … yikes.]
So then on down the road I went.
Just at the point where I decided to turn around and head back uphill, upriver, back up toward Eightmile Campground, I spied this odd thing in the river (photo below).
After some research online, I found out it has something to do with the fish hatchery, diversion of water, control of water temperature, etc. This appears to be the “Icicle Creek Diversion Channel”. Constructed during the summer of 1939, and still used today, the 4,085 foot-long diversion channel was a major project, with excavation carried on around the clock in four shifts. This small dam upstream is used to divert water into the channel from Icicle Creek, or not, depending on whether the two gates in the photo above are open or closed.
Here’s a Google Earth image (below) of the diversion dam.
And then I was almost in amongst housing on the outskirts of Leavenworth, so I turned around and headed back up-river towards Eightmile Campground. I stopped often for gorgeous views of the river and the mountains.
The only home I could see on that entire roadway was the one in the photo below. It was on the other side of Icicle Creek, had a bridge over the creek to access it, and a gate securely locked at that bridge. Those folks wanted peace and quiet.
On up the road a bit more, I stopped often for photos. And just to stand and stare, and listen, and smell the air.
The photo below is a portion of Icicle Creek.
And here’s a video …
Further up the road, I began to see rock walls on the opposite side of Icicle Creek (below).
And then the seemingly almost vertical sides of mountain peaks came into view (below). In the photo below, notice the rock peak on the right side of the photo.
Here’s a close-up of that peak.
Further up the road, almost back at Eightmile Campground now, there was easy access to park the truck and then walk to the edge of the creek/river to snap the photo below …
And to take the video below …
In fact, if you look closely, you’ll see that the place where I took these last photos (and the video) are exactly the same spot from which I took the very first photo above.
Just to drive this road down to Leavenworth then back up to the campground would take maybe 15 minutes, at most! But I spent about three hours driving, stopping, walking, watching, and loving every minute. What a beautiful corner of the planet and how blessed I am to be able to see and enjoy it.
Heading home tomorrow. You can bet your boots I’ll be back here for another visit!
Spectacular! Friends of mine rock climb and they say you MUST learn how to do it correctly or you fall, and then bad things happen. They don’t call it rock climbing, they call it “cragging”. ??
Cragging it is! I didn’t know that, never heard of it, but indeed rock climbing is called cragging. And yes I’d bet one should learn how to do it. Falling from rocks onto rocks … not so good. Thanks Olivia. 🙂
You must not have known this, but Leavenworth is one of the best known places to learn to rock climb, or yes go “cragging”. There’s a school there, the Northwest Mountain School that teaches all sorts of mountain climbing and back country stuff. I took a few classes there. Next time you go to Eightmile Campground (yes, that campground is super!) check out the school. Great photos, by the way. 🙂
I did not know that. Thank you! Here I was in the very neighbor of one of the best known cragging schools or climbing schools in the USA and I didn’t know that. Sigh. Ok, yes, when I’m here again (and I will be again), I will be sure to check out the Northwest Mountain School. Thanks Steve. 🙂
What a pretty part of the world! And the name Icicle just makes me shiver! I kayak down a river in northern Michigan that has a gate on it, which is up or down depending on whether the salmon are spawning. If it’s down you have to portage around it. If it’s up you get to slide right through. I don’t think it’s exactly like the gates on Icicle…but its kind of similar.
You kayak down rivers like this? Maybe not the torrent of a river like this one is, but maybe a bit calmer? Wow, I’m impressed, Dawn. Have you blogged about that river and the gates? If so, please post a link here, I will approve it! But if you haven’t blogged about it, then that is your next assignment. 🙂 I’d love to learn about that river and the salmon and kayking there in Michigan.
How beautiful! The rocks. The river! The trees. The sky! I wouldn’t want to go home either. 🙂
🙂 Indeed. The idea of going home seemed so dull.
If I could have a home with a view like in your last photo, I’d never LEAVE home! 🙂 I bet winters here can be gorgeous too, but monstrously cold. Is the campground open year round? Are there campsites with electricity for heat?
Great questions, Jamie. No, the campground is closed in winter. And none of the campsites have electricity at any time of year … and there are LOTS of trees so solar power is minimal. So one needs to come prepared with your own water on board, and plenty of your own electricity or battery power or propane for heat, or you just stay a few days and move on.
Oh, a home with a view like these views, oh my. 🙂
Family are visiting so I shared your blog. All of them love it. I had to ask them to have a break and talk with me! 🙂 The rocks and mountains are spectacular. I shall never travel to your part of the world, so I thank you for sharing! Absolutely brilliant.
Henry, please thank your family for me. That’s very nice that they liked my blog so much that they didn’t talk to you. 🙂 Ok, maybe not so nice for you. Hopefully, they had a break and talked with you. I appreciate your comments so much and am so glad to have you reading along on my blog. Very much appreciated. 🙂
Just beautiful. I really liked hearing the river.
And what a voice the river has! It’s not quiet! Even inside my trailer, with insulated walls, and at a distance from the river, still I lay awake at night listening to the river and eventually falling asleep to that music.
I love how you set off for a few hours in the truck with just a general idea of where you’re going, with really no idea what you’ll see or who you’ll meet. That opens the door to seeing so many things you didn’t have a clue that you’d see. Like the woman learning to rock climb (is there a verb “to crag”?). And the dam/doors to the hatchery diversion channel. I also love the specific destinations you visit too, but I really like the ones like this one where you just go and see what you see.
The rocks peaks are spectacular. My favorite photos are the first one and the last one.
I sure like doing that … setting off and going “somewhere” and seeing “whatever”. When I first started camping, I didn’t do that, but now my rules have changed and I allow myself the joy of simply wandering.
Ah “to crag”. The internet says it is a verb! But it also says the word is usually used in the present participle form “cragging” … as in “I am going cragging.” And not “I crag.”
LOL! I got a good chuckle out of your dam/doors comment. Those dam doors! 🙂 Thanks Babe.
What a great area and campground. You can’t any better unless your campsite has a view. But then, you find those too. This country tho is amazing, gorgeous. We wouldn’t have wanted to go home either.
Tim, I bet you and your wife have stories to tell about equally beautiful campsites and campgrounds and areas that you’ve explored. This part of the planet is indeed gorgeous and amazing. Please feel free to share your own favorite campsites here … I need new destinations. 🙂
I’ve driven up through that area, but I’ve never stayed there. That mountain pass out of Leavenworth is stunningly beautiful so I’m not surprised the 8-mile campground area is too. There are other campgrounds further up into the mountains from 8-mile but I don’t think any of them have elec/water and maybe not even any reservations. I think 8-mile is the last of the line for that sort of thing. Great photos!
Yes, Eightmile is the last campground up this road that accepts reservations. The rest are first-come first-served, with no electricity or water, no flush toilets (just out houses), whereas 8-mile has flush toilets and showers. The road up to Eightmile is a dead end road, miles more up the road past the Eightmile campground, with a number of campgrounds along the way, but eventually the road ends way up in the mountains. It’s a beautiful drive, but a bumpy one on a road that gets less and less maintained the further up you go.
And yet, the main highway through Leavenworth that you mention over the mountain pass is very nicely paved and maintained and the views are truly stunning. If any of you readers want to drive through this area, just watch the weather and come across the mountain pass (highway 2) in springtime or in the fall. Highway 2 (the North Cascades highway) closes in winter, so watch the weather. Thanks Paul. 🙂
Highway 2 through Leavenworth does not close in the winter. This is Stevens Pass. However Highway 20 which is North Cascades is further north and it does close in the winter
Oops, I left off the zero off of the northern Highway 20. Thanks for catching that Fritzi.
This was really stunning scenery! And photos! And info. Thanks Ann. You’re the best. Wish we were still RVing, we’d be right behind you.
Thanks Marge. I’ll keep checking behind me to see if yous are there. 🙂
Beautiful pictures. I just revisited the previous post on my way to opening this post and I opened all the shots in fullscreen. Wow! Spectacular! The lighting is superb. The shots of the running river capture the sense of the movement and flow so beautifully . (I’ve been trying for decades, but have never mastered it). And the pictures of the still waters have a luminous quality , a sense of calm, of peace. I particularly like the play of light and shadow in “The Rocks And The Roots “.
By the way, did you see the person in the 4th picture down? On the very far left about the midpoint? A warrior, I thought, possibly a samurai 🤔😯? Whoever it is, they took me by surprise. Not like the tiny person in the picture of the two trees who is striding very purposefully down by the roots.
(Okay… you started this game! 😃)
I may have to look more closely at this weeks blog.
Oh yes, I see him! I didn’t before but I do now. Ok, everyone, he’s in the fourth photo down in the previous blog, not this blog, and he is way over in the left side of the photo … he’s a shadow in the woods, and is taller than I thought he would be. There’s a tree trunk over there on the left … most of his body is above that tree trunk, and he’s leaning to the left.
But I don’t see the tiny person striding very purposefully in the picture with the two trees. 🙁 Help me see it, Fritzi. Is it the 5th photo or the 11th photo?
Yes, I may have created a monster by introducing faces in rocks and trees. But I love it. 🙂 Thank you for your wonderful words about my photos.
In the last photo before the fire pictures, there, right in the middle, is a tiny black character walking from the right to left by the roots of the tree.
Funny but I wasn’t even looking for faces or anything but the samurai one just kind of jumped out at me. Fun!🙂
I see it now! It’s wearing a white pointed hat. Wow you have good eyes. I love finding faces and I like that you (and others too) have joined in the hunt. 🙂