Link up at beautiful Bear Creek BRING YOUR BEST GAME TO THE VALLEY’S GOLF

Course

BY RICK LEWIS

The Methow Valley is blessed with a beautiful and fun, yet challenging golf experience in Bear Creek Golf Course, just five short minutes driving time from downtown Winthrop. Visitors have described it as “a little bit of heaven, right here on Earth.”

Originally built as a three-hole course out of a cow pasture, the course evolved into five, and then six, and eventually the nine-hole course as it exists today. Four sets of tees on each hole provide golfers with options for play to suit one’s ability. The white and red tees are set for the front nine, the blue and yellow tees are set for the back nine.

On most holes the back nine sets offer a unique hole from the first time around where yardages are different, and the angle of attack to both the fairway and hole are completely different.

The Northcott brothers, Rick and Bart, co-manage the course and were treated to a pleasant scene as the snow melted away in early April this year, two weeks later than normal.

“We were really surprised to see how the greens came through the winter,” said Bart. “They are in the best condition coming off winter I have ever seen. It could be that first shot of snow we got in early November provided enough dry insulation to protect the turf from the really cold temperatures we got later in December.”

As the snow disappeared, the usual signs of snow mold and other maladies that have plagued the course early season in past years were not present this year. Indeed, a spring tour of the course revealed a number of greens appearing to be in mid-season form, plush, green and devoid of the usual damaged surfaces caused by infestations of snow mold.

■ M ORE UPGRADES

It could also be the program the past two years of aerating and fertilizing the putting surfaces in May is having positive results. Partnering with the Bear Creek Men’s Club, the staff and volunteers have made a one-day blitz of the course, punching, sanding and fertilizing the greens. B y Memorial Day weekend, all should be good and ready for the summer season.

Other work accomplished recently include removal of several 50-plus-year-old Lombardi poplar trees, cleanup around the outskirts of several lateral hazard areas, and understory cleanup in some of the ponderosa pine stands. Longtime visitors will enjoy the recently renovated 6th tee, re-contoured, expanded and replanted with fresh sod.

The course is typically open when the frost clears in the morning during the spring, and the clubhouse is staffed from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. during the early season. Summer hours from Memorial Day through Labor Day weekends are 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Tee time reservations are required on the weekends and highly suggested for the early to mid-morning hours on the weekdays.

As the weather gets warmer in the summer months, walk-up arrivals have no trouble finding the course wide open from about 2 p.m. until closing.

Wednesday is Men’s Club night. The Bear Creek locals typically tee off at 5 p.m., shotgun style.

The group averages about 25 or so in good weather and since the course is not closed for the event, be prepared to see an invasion for golfers that are well-behaved, good and polite about working around visitors.

Guests are always welcome to join the antics on Wednesday nights. Besides the normal green fees and rentals, there is a $5 entry fee for the club activity on any particular Men’s Club night.

Friday at 4 p.m. during the summer months is the weekly Scramble, open to the public. Skill levels, handicaps, and all that formal stuff are thrown out the window in favor of a get to know ya, social mixer where the common thread is the fun of golf in a mostly non-competitive nature.

Immediately after the Scramble, enjoy high-quality B-S Bar-B-Que Friday night dinners during the months of July and August. The menu varies and reservations are required. Call Bear Creek for more information.

■ O THER OPTIONS

There are several upscale golf courses, also knowns as “golf resorts” within a 60-90 minute drive from Winthrop, all highly rated by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association, and significantly more expensive than t he local course. Alta Lake Golf Course is about a 45-minute drive down the Methow River near the town of Pateros. The course is 18 holes, the front nine more of a links-style course common to the British game. The back nine more closely resembles the desert course experience. Summer d aytime rates for 18 holes at Alta Lake are just over $50, cart rentals are available.

B ear Mountain Golf Course, just south of Lake Chelan on State Highway 97A, and Desert Canyon near Orondo on the east side of the Columbia River are higher in cost, around $80-$100 for summer daytime rates, with required cart, and provide a more resort-style experience and championship-style courses.

Gamble Sands, east of Brewster, is as close to the type of course one might experience on the pro tours, and the fees reflect it. Go there with a local friend who has a “buddy card” to save significantly. You are still likely to spend around $110, or more, on the budget plan, but it is a magnificent course and a whole different feeling than most other courses open to the public.

In 2022, Gamble Sands announced plans to build a second 18-hole, David McLay Kidd-designed championship golf course. Construction on the new course is underway with anticipated completion and grand opening in summer 2025. The property’s 18hole, McLay Kidd-designed Sands Course opened for play in 2014.

Bear Creek Golf Course

19 Bear Creek Golf Course Road, Winthrop (509) 996-2284 info@bearcreekgolfcourse.com www.bearcreekgolfcourse.com

$27; 18 holes, $40 weekdays, $30, $44 weekends.

BY RICK LEWIS

The time spent fishing is not subtracted from one’s lifetime .”

“Who said that?”

“My bait dealer.”

—Johnny Hart’s characters Peter and BC in a prehistoric, of sorts, conversation from the collection “Back To BC.”

Still, the time spent fishing, which many will say is not the same as catching, is arguably when a person has an opportunity to really be one with their immediate environs.

The gentle lapping of the breeze-instigated chop against the gunwales of the aluminum or wood canoe. The high-pitched screech of an overhead osprey or bald/golden eagle patrolling the surface for an unsuspecting silvery meal. The mother mallard with her trailing brood of ducklings cruising along the shore searching for bugs and other edible, waterborne morsels.

All pieces of the puzzle of nature so inviting and relaxing to the human senses, until interrupted by the sudden jolt of the line going tight, pulling, tugging and bouncing the rod tip downward toward t he water as the quarry has been suckered into devouring the fake food on the other end of the line. Frantically, it dives, then with an upward acceleration, breaks the surface and flings itself skyward in a vain attempt to shake free of the hook that only seconds ago looked like an irresistibly tasty meal floating just under the surface of a mirror-like lake.

Or maybe you just like the challenge of being hunter-gatherer for the family meal back at camp this evening and are hoping desperately to not get skunked (some call it being outsmarted by the fish).

Whatever your pleasure or purpose, there is a fishing experience waiting for you somewhere within an short hour’s drive of downtown Winthrop, most of it of the quite respite we all seek when visiting the Methow Valley.

Here are a few local popular fishing holes to try. Some are rather busy and, at times, frenetic with activity, others offer solitude and peace. Most will provide the novice or expert angler the satisfaction of the experience, as well as a chance to connect with different species and varieties of freshwater fish.

■ P EARRYGIN LAKE

Open the Fourth Saturday in April through Oct. 31 each year, statewide catch and size limits, mostly hatchery-raised rainbow trout with some German browns and hybrid triploids for some added excitement. Waterskiing and operation of personal watercraft are permitted on Pearrygin, so there is some sharing of the lake surface during the busy summer months. However, by Okanogan County ordinance, hours of such operation are limited during the months of July and August to 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, extended to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to permit several evenings of use by the ski boat set.

T here are two points of entry for recreational boaters to access Pearrygin. Most popular is the state park, which offers a paved road, large parking area and public restroom facilities. A Discover Pass is required and the park also charges an additional daily watercraft launch fee of $7 for putting a boat in the water.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) manages a more rustic boat launch at its access area just west of the state park. Display of either the annual WDFW stewardship pass or Discover Pass is required on all vehicles at this site, but there is no daily launch fee if one is a pass holder and has it displayed. Parking, though, is very limited, disorganized and the area can get very congested in a short time by non-launchers looking to avoid the Discover Pass requirement. An aromatic vault toilet is at this site. Fair warning: The area is checked frequently by WDFW agents, so make sure to display your Discover Pass at all times.

■ PATTERSON LAKE

A low spot sandwiched between Patterson Mountain on the east, Thompson Ridge on the west and Sun Mountain Lodge to the north, Patterson is the second-largest local lake easily accessible for general fishing without special regulations. One can find several species of trout, including rainbow and tiger, as well as some yellow perch. Patterson is a winter ice fishing favorite.

There is one WDFW access point toward the north end of the lake along Patterson Lake Road. Once again, a Discover Pass or WDFW Stewardship Pass are required for parking at the developed, as of yet unpaved lot and launch (WDFW plans are to eventually pave the lot for better access). There is a less-aromatic, CXT-style vented vault toilet available at the site. Patterson does have a “no wake” 8 mph speed limit in force at all times, making fishing experience certainly smoother than a midday summer troll attempt across the valley at Pearrygin.

■ B IG AND LITTLE TWIN LAKES

Located southwest of Winthrop on Twin Lakes Road, Big and Little Twin are landlocked seep lakes that have no visible source of incoming water. Both are “selective gear only” and do not permit the use of combustion motors. There are some lunker rainbow trout in both lakes, and each has a single WDFW Access point. Minimum size limit for both lakes is 18 inches and only one fish per person may be taken out daily. There are no trees along either lake, and most of the shoreline around both lakes is privately owned, hence no privacy. The eyes of an entire neighborhood are upon you, so be respectful of the landowners’ wishes and use only the public facilities provided.

■ BUC K LAKE

Located north of Winthrop 8 miles up the East Chewuch River Road, turn left up the hill at Eight Mile Ranch onto Eight Mile Road along Eight Mile Creek. About a half-mile up, turn left again and continue a short distance to Buck Lake. Statewide rules apply at Buck Lake with no special limits or restrictions. Rainbow trout are the common thread here, too.