Winthrop looks like a film set, and in a way it is. In the 1970s, when the North Cascades Highway was about to open and bring tourists through the Methow Valley, local business owners decided to give the town a Wild West makeover, with false-front wooden buildings, boardwalks and hitching posts. The idea worked, and today Winthrop is a lively little town full of cafés, saloons, outfitters and gift shops, with a real sense of fun. The town has a genuine frontier history, too, and the novelist Owen Wister is said to have drawn on stories from the valley when he wrote The Virginian, one of the first great Western novels.
The Methow Valley is a broad, sunny valley on the eastern side of the Cascades, with the Methow River winding through hay fields and cottonwood groves. The surrounding hills are covered with ponderosa pine and sagebrush, and the peaks of the North Cascades rise to the west. It is a popular destination for outdoor recreation, with hiking, mountain biking and fishing in summer, and one of the largest cross-country ski trail networks in North America in winter.
The riding in the valley is relaxed and scenic. SR 20 continues south from Winthrop to Twisp, then climbs over Loup Loup Pass to Okanogan, a fine ride through pine forest with gentle curves and little traffic. Alternatively, you can follow the Methow River south to Pateros and the Columbia River. Both routes are quiet and beautiful.
The weather in the Methow is very different from the western side of the mountains. It is dry and sunny for much of the year, with hot summers and cold, snowy winters. Wildfires are a concern in late summer, and the valley has been hit hard by fires in recent years. Smoke can obscure the views and make riding uncomfortable.
Winthrop has fuel, food, lodging and a good selection of restaurants and bakeries. Twisp, about fifteen kilometres south, has more services, including a supermarket. The towns of Okanogan and Omak, about fifty kilometres to the east over Loup Loup Pass, are larger and have everything you might need. If you are heading west over the mountains, fill up here, because there is nothing until Marblemount.