Icicle Ridge

We wanted to do one more hike while we were in Leavenworth, and this one was a new one for us. 
We hiked the first four miles of the ridge, although the entire ridge is 26 miles long, and we did intersect with it last year when we hiked the Fourth of July hike. 

Here we go, starting only a mile and a half from the town of Leavenworth

Western Flowering Dogwood

Gotta love the open slopes and lodge pole pines

The soft sandy tread was easy on our legs

Rocky Mountain Helianthella

Lots of lupines

After almost three miles, we came to a saddle, and decision time

Instead of walking over to a nearby popular viewpoint, we elected to keep climbing, looking for solitude

Snowbrush

Up we go, with Leavenworth looking smaller down below

More pretty flowers, making the trail a little brushy

Higher

Keith found a perfect lunch spot, over a mile above the saddle, with views on the other side of the ridge  This is the Wenatchee River flowing beside Highway 2

Not just views at our lunch spot but flowers too

Came back down thoroughly satisfied with another great Washington hike.

Stats:
Roundtrip=8 miles
Elevation gain= 2400 feet
Date hiked=June 22, 2017