Monroe has a kinda cute / quaint Main St area downtown, a few big chain stores, and lots of traffic. There’s lots of hiking just east and north of there, and Stevens Pass for skiing is a bit east. Looks like there’s a small clinic or two, but the nearest real hospital is in Everett I think.

I live about six miles east of Monroe (and I’m about to list my house for sale if you’re looking).

You should try it with a drone: https://i.imgur.com/K1hGjUU.jpg

I tend to process most of my photos for printing, and what works for hanging on the wall doesn’t always work as well on a screen.

Here’s a completely unmodified (except for format change from raw to jpg, and god only knows what Imgur is going to do to it) original: https://i.imgur.com/eViRNE2.jpg

Thanks! It's grayscale, though the original isn't much different except for a heavy blue cast and some minor touchups.

https://i.imgur.com/eLrbcXS.jpg

May as well add on Heybrook Ridge too. Same sort of hike.

It’s not what you’re referring to, but this solid black one is hopefully going to be a thing soon: https://www.americascarmuseum.org/donate/throwbackplate/

There’s a link in there to support both the house and senate bills.

I really like this one. Maybe brighten the lake itself up to draw attention?

Maybe lighten the mountain and foreground, for the sky darken and increase saturation, and a small radial filter with increased exposure for the moon? I think it’s a good shot, just need to brighten up some parts first.

Wow, it’s definitely going to be a goner soon.

I last shot that from about the same angle on September third of 2022 and it looks like it’s fallen quite a bit.

My version: https://i.imgur.com/GyTlieN.jpg

What’s the highest tide this can be done with? It’s looking like if I try it tomorrow it will be around 4’ max.

Thanks for posting and making us aware it’s time to bug our useless lazy reps. Don’t listen to the haters and people who don’t understand why filtering is safer - keep up the good work.

Cars need to come with very bright daytime running lights with replaceable LEDs.

I agree with you on the lights being on all the time, but not so much for $10 for headlight bulbs.

I wish they were $10 - modern HID bulbs and ballasts can run in the hundreds of dollars, and if an LED burns out in a headlight cluster you’re probably looking at thousands for a replacement. On top of that, some modern vehicles require extensive labor to even get to some of those parts.

These have snow right now, but my favorite easy and mostly flat ones are Iron Goat (go clockwise), Monte Cristo, and the often crowded Franklin Falls. If you do Iron Goat, stop at the nearby Deception Falls for a very short hike and a scenic waterfall.

Grasshopper Pass had some amazing open views and wasn’t that steep but the “road” to it was beyond awful.

Lime Kiln is cool and probably snow free right now.

Margaret’s Way is supposed to be flat also, but I haven’t visited it yet.

Like others said, get the WTA app and/or Alltrails.

Thanks! I’ve driven by there a million times and had no idea it was there.

What trail is that?

Since I live on Hwy 2, my go-to is the N Cascades loop: Hwy 2 to Chelan, N to Winthrop, W on 20 to Sedro-Wooley, S on I5 to Hwy 2 and back home. Hwy 20 will be the most scenic and interesting part, and have the most curves and fun sections of the road however it’s closed for the winter at the moment.

Fill your tank before you do the long stretch of Hwy 20, it can be a bit far with small gas tanks and curvy roads making people wrist happy. Stop in the fake Bavarian town of Leavenworth for a beer and a sausage… or the fake Wild West town of Winthrop for whatever they have which is probably going to cause food poisoning. You’ll also want to stop and hang out at the Diablo overlook most likely. The east section can be hot so bring mesh as well as rain gear. Part of Hwy 20 is fresh chip seal, and it will take a toll on your tires. From a Canadian point of view, you could start in Bellingham and run it the opposite way of what I have above.

Rainier is also worth visiting. Lake Crescent is also nice, as are the west coast beaches and Hoh Rainforest but there’s also a lot of boring road in that part of the state. The 101-106 road around Hood Canal is scenic but not very sporty and can have slow moving local traffic.

Send me a PM when it’s riding season if you want someone to do the loop with, assuming my slow touring bike can keep up with whatever you’re on.

That font choice is so bad that hell is going to pop into existence just to house the one guy that made that.

Thanks! The Artist Point road and parking lot isn’t plowed, but you can drive up to where the entrance to it is and park there. That was shot from near the ski school and cafe building.

I had hoped to try and find a trail up to the top of table mountain I could hike, but that wasn’t happening. My second choice was taking the expert chair lift (or snowshoe) near the cafe to the top of the ridge, but the lift was shut down by the time I made it there.

The red marker is where I was and can be driven to easily:

https://i.imgur.com/md0kL5m.jpg

This is the view from table mountain where I had planned on going:

https://i.imgur.com/cUSzRJN.jpg

Those weren’t related, just two different things.

Good: not much of a crowd, roads were well plowed and easy to drive, no traffic.

Bad: apparently they start locking the restrooms at 3:00 now. I really need to learn how to ski.

I don’t think houses there go up for sale often; in the six months I was house shopping here I never saw one inside the town area itself.

Having said that, last I saw there’s a dilapidated place for sale down the road by the river.