[Looking forward]

After Rainy Pass, Crater Peak in the distance.

State route 20 through the Northern Cascades, from Mazama to Newhalem,
was one of the most beautiful days of our journey. However, we may
have gone through on an exceptional day. I’ve heard the western slopes
there described as rainforests and know that some of the peaks average
more than one hundred inches of precipitation annually. The trees on
either side of the road rose from a thick, damp, dark underbrush.
Rivuletes of water ran down and around exposed rock and fed flowers
living in cracks; waterfalls cut deep channels and chasms that the
road had to bridge. But, in this sturated place, only rarely was the
sun hidden behind a cloud and we didn’t feel a drop of rain.