Winthrop has dressed up as the Wild West, and it does so with enthusiasm. The town sits where the Chewuch and Methow rivers meet, in a sunny valley on the dry eastern side of the North Cascades, and its main street is lined with wooden false fronts, boardwalks and hitching posts. In the 1970s, with the new highway about to bring tourists from Seattle, local businesses agreed on an Old West theme, and the plan worked. Today there are saloons, a general store, a small museum in an old log cabin, and at weekends a cowboy hat is not out of place.
The real history is also colourful. The area was a gold and silver prospecting zone in the 1880s, and the town was named after the writer Theodore Winthrop, whose book on the Pacific Northwest had been popular. Cattle ranchers, orchardists and homesteaders followed. It is a small place, with about five hundred people, but the Methow Valley is well known for its sunny climate, with warm summers and cold, dry winters that make it one of the best places in the country for cross-country skiing.
The ride in from the west is a classic. After Washington Pass, the North Cascades Highway drops steeply down the eastern slope, through hairpins and long bends, with granite spires above and forests of larch and pine below, then follows the Methow River into the valley. The change from the wet west side to the dry east is dramatic, and the temperature can rise by ten degrees within a few miles. Autumn is magical, when the larches turn bright gold in October, among the evergreens, and the light is clear.
Winthrop has fuel stations, cafes, bakeries and a few hotels, and it is a very pleasant place to end the day, with a cold beer on a porch. Services are limited farther back along the highway, so fill the tank here before turning around. Summer can be hot, with temperatures in the thirties Celsius, and wildfires have affected the valley in recent years, so check the news. Watch for deer and cattle on the road, especially at dusk, and for cyclists on the pass.