Sedro-Woolley

Located on the western edge of the Cascade Mountains in the fertile Skagit Valley, Sedro-Woolley is a major launching-off point for exploring the North Cascades. It is one of the first cities you pass through heading east from I-5 on the North Cascades Scenic Highway 20.

The city is home to the North Cascades National Park and Forest Information Center, which is operated jointly with the Mt. Baker District of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, the North Cascades Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the North Cascades branch of Discover Your Northwest. The center is an excellent resource for planning trips into the national park and adjacent national forests, with a staffed information desk; relief map of the park and adjacent national forests; and related books, maps, and videos for sale.

Sedro-Woolley sits on the northern banks of the Skagit River, where each winter spawning salmon draw hundreds of bald eagles from as far north as Alaska and the Yukon. A popular wintertime activity is rafting the Skagit River to see one of the largest gatherings of these endangered species in the lower 48 states.

Just east of Sedro-Woolley is Rasar State Park, a 169-acre camping park with 4,000 feet of frontage on the Skagit River. The park has hiking trails, an interpretive kiosk, interpretive trail signs, and picnicking and camping facilities. It’s a great place for eagle watching.

Birders also can enjoy nearby Skagit Wildlife Areas where sloughs, ponds and fields host migrating Swainson’s thrushes, Bullock’s orioles, wood ducks, bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, and Trumpeter and Tundra swans. See the Cascade Loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail for more information.

The city of Sedro-Woolley has a rich heritage dating back to the 1890’s. It began as two towns – Sedro, which comes from the Spanish word “cedra” for cedar tree, and Woolley, which was named after its founder, Philip A. Woolley, who purchased 84 acres in 1890 to establish the company town where three rail lines were projected to cross in a triangle a mile north of the Skagit River. In 1898, the two neighboring towns merged (after much debate over the city’s name) to become Sedro-Woolley. Throughout its downtown, there are remnants of Sedro-Woolley’s past, including a 1913-steam engine pulling a logging car and bright red caboose, life-size woodcarvings, and historical murals.

This fall you still can enjoy the Skagit Valley’s freshest produce, organic meat and cheeses, and seasonal flowers at Sedro-Woolley’s farmers market, which takes place every Wednesday from 3 to 7 pm in Hammer Heritage Square. The 2010 season runs through Oct. 13.

For more about Sedro-Woolley, visit http://www.ci.sedro-woolley.wa.us/Home/main.htm.

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