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Travelers face many dilemmas of direction these days, but one conundrum that turns our inner-trekker’s consternation on its head is selecting the best season to visit the Methow Valley in northeast Washington. I’ve written about the valley, located about four hours away by car from Seattle, in the spring and summer, eager to laud the long hikes, the ideal angling, and some of the widest skies this side of Montana. But I discovered my perfect season when I traveled to Twisp in January, laced up my skates and traversed Patterson Lake for so long, my friends had to lure me off the ice with taunts of missing après skate cocktails at Sun Mountain Lodge or worse, wood fired pizza and local ales at Tappi.

To me, there is nothing, nothing like skating across a frozen lake beside a mountain and beneath blue skies. A low snow year may restrict operations at Loup-Loup, the area’s boutique ski hill, but the cold temperatures produce ice that’s at least two feet thick, providing a half-mile terrace for skaters, fishermen and strollers. Stick handling on the lake, where the frost has scattered crystals like stars in the winter sky, requires more shove than finesse, but who cares.

No such effort is required upon Winthrop’s outdoor ice rink, a recently renovated municipal facility, where I play two hours of plein aire pick-up hockey that very morning. My team, comprised of men and women, ages 9 to 60, battles with an equally diverse sextet until the call of a second cup of Blue Star coffee draws several players away.

I would be remiss to suggest that the Methow is only a skating hub, however. Cross-country skiing serves as sport of the masses here. Evidence is everywhere, from the skis stuck into the snow bank like a Nordic Excalibur in front of the Mazama County Store to the distinctive grooves that juxtapose each other for more than 125 groomed miles that course through the valley.

Attendees at Rouge, a concert produced by the exceptional Methow Arts Alliance, which brings more culture and arts education to the valley than most medium-sized cities, discuss skate skiing versus traditional skiing with nuances to rival an Alaskan’s description of snow. As an infrequent cross-country skier who spends many days a year at alpine resorts, I find the discussion refreshing, free from the boast about this-or-that black diamond or complaints about the imperfect conditions.

Next morning, though the shrub-steppe Methow brae receives only a light dusting of snow, the frost frescoes adhered to cords of wood and dormant sage reflect the sun’s wintry brilliance.  

Like the best winter getaways, Twisp and Winthrop offer plenty of places to get warm, drink warm liquids and eat warm pastries. Over three days, we visit the Rocking Horse Bakery for panini, pause at Cinnamon Twisp to collect some chocolate chip cookies and swing past Local 98856 to swipe a pie we had preordered.

Three bakeries, 125 miles of skiing trails and a deeply frozen lake in one majestic valley. Who needs a ski resort when Skadi, Norse goddess of winter, invites you to play in the Methow?

Let AAA Travel help you book your Methow Valley accommodations.