Highway 20 that goes west to Anacortes and Whidbey Island, is called the North Cascades Scenic Byway as it heads east. Several times now I’ve driven 40-50 miles on it to the small towns of Concrete and Rockport. The area is known for having a lot of eagles in the winter along the Skagit River. They say they have the largest population of eagles in the contiguous United States. I recall Oregon makes the same claim. Suffice to say both states have a lots of eagles.
The pictures above are from Rockport State Park. It contains an old growth forest, with some trees that are 400-600 years old. It was converted from a camping park to a day use only park last year because of instability of some of the trees. They have a picnic area and some nice trails. There is a beautiful county park just a few miles from it, Howard Miller Steelhead Park, that is right along the Skagit River. It is mainly a reservation park, but does have a few first come first come first served sites. When I drove through it during the week, there were lots of empty sites. Rasar State Park is also not far away and has reservation camping.
I debated staying in this area to better explore it. There is the Mt. Baker area and the Cascades, and also a 20 mile bike path from Sedro-Woolley to Concrete. However, I’m so happy in Skagit Flats, I’m going to continue to stay there.
Looking north across the Skagit River near Rockport.
