Leavenworth offers fun in the sun for outdoor adventurers

LEAVENWORTH — Driving here via Highway 2, you can't help but feel the landscape calling you. Reaching out, offering myriad suggestions of things to do, just like those in-store sample-giver folks at Costco.

"Wenatchee River here — try some river rafting, won't you? Got a little bit of everything. Stretches of easy, relaxing floating followed by rip-roaring Class III and IV rapids, thrills and possible spills galore. Guaranteed to soak the skin and elevate the heart rate."

"Icicle Ridge over here — look up on your right. Higher. Yeah, that's it. Untold miles of hiking trails. South-facing, east side of the Cascades, snow melts out at least a month earlier than it does over on the Westside-wetside trails. Combine it with a little rock climbing down the canyon. It's excellent. Some of the best climbing in the state is found down that way."

"Got Lake Wenatchee State Park for ya' thisaway — camping, boating, horseback riding and nearby hiking trails. Your choice, king-size fun. Goes great with families."

And there's lots more, including mountain biking Freund Canyon, birding Waterfront Park, hiking up epic Aasgard Pass for a traipse through the Enchantments or spidering one's way up the granite walls of Icicle Canyon.

Season preview

A couple weeks ago, eager to get in some early-season semi-alpine hiking, I answered the call of Leavenworth and headed up the Icicle Ridge Trail, pretty much the first trail you come to once you hit the Bavarian-themed burg. At the "Welcome to Leavenworth" sign, turn right on Icicle Road and in about a mile-and-a-half, you'll find the signed trailhead parking area on your right.

After climbing about 5,000 feet, the Icicle Ridge Trail follows the ridge spine for some 25 miles. A true Northwest classic, it's a ridgetop wonderland that reaches far into the heart of the Central Cascades and rewards with spectacular alpine vistas and hidden mountain lakes.

This time of year, however, most of the trail's upper reaches remain buried under snow, so the high country wasn't on my agenda this day. Instead, I'd make for the saddle — just two miles up the trail, and about 1,800 feet above the valley floor. It's the perfect lunch-slash-turnaround spot and, at an elevation of roughly 3,000 feet, features hot-air balloon-worthy views down into Leavenworth and Tumwater Canyon, and to the Stuart Range and Columbia River plateau beyond.

Along with being close to town — with easy access to that last-minute shot (or four) of espresso to jolt one into hiking mode — the Icicle Ridge Trail rewards with great views almost right from the get-go. That's the lasting effect of a massive forest fire that swept through this canyon about 15 years ago.

Blackened trunks of Ponderosa pines populate the hillside, devoid of greenery perhaps, but still standing bolt upright and at attention. Vine maple, various grasses and the most tenacious of sunflowers (arrowleaf balsamroot) provide plenty of color, however, as do early season arrivals of Indian paintbrush and their splashes of orange.

After a gentle start, the trail starts a series of switchbacks and begins climbing in earnest, views improving with just about every step. Wedge Mountain at the eastern edge of the Stuart Range grows bigger and more impressive while down below Icicle Creek winds and wends its way, as if coyly trying to decide whether or not to hook up with the Wenatchee River. (In the end, it decides in the affirmative.)

Trial run

About halfway up the trail, I come across Samantha Schnelbach and Christine Quinn, trail runners returning from a quick up-and-back run to the saddle.

"It's beautiful up there," says Quinn, who lives in Leavenworth.

Schnelbach, her iPod earbuds still in her ears, nods in agreement.

"She's training for the Ridge Run," Quinn says, a reference to the Bridger Ridge Run, an epically challenging 20-mile trail race in Bozeman, Mont., where Schnelbach lives.

Then they're gone. Back down the trail at full speed. Up I go. Twenty minutes later I'm enjoying the 360-degree views they left me, pirouetting 'round and 'round to take it all in. In front of me (and a couple thousand feet below) Front Street, Leavenworth, looks close enough that I'd be able to sail a paper airplane right onto the roof of the Nussknacker Haus. (Which, by the way, features the largest collection of nutcrackers in the Northwest.)

Behind me (and below), the Wenatchee River races through the bottom of Tumwater Canyon, kept in check by Icicle Ridge, which rises almost a mile above it. Drury Falls is the distant horsetail of water cascading down the mountainside far to the north. And over there's the Leavenworth Ski Hill. And there's Blackbird Island and Waterfront Park. And the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery. And on and on.

Behind me, the upper 3,000 feet of Icicle Ridge and 20-plus miles of trail beckon. And though I'm enjoying this sample, I have to decline. But when the snow up there melts, I'll be back. And I bet the views are even more spectacular.

I can't wait.

Mike McQuaide is a Bellingham freelance writer and author of "Day Hike! Central Cascades" and "Day Hike! North Cascades" (Sasquatch Books).

He can be reached at mikemcquaide@comcast.net. Blog: mcqview.blogspot.com.