--- title: "Pearrygin Lake State Park" url: "https://www.pnwsights.com/place/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/" site: "PNWSights" category: "Parks & Wilderness" city: "Winthrop" state: "WA" latitude: 48.4978 longitude: -120.1491 photogenic_score: 0.39 updated: "2026-04-29" --- # Pearrygin Lake State Park Winthrop, WA · Parks & Wilderness · Scenic score 39/100 Pearrygin Lake State Park encompasses a warm freshwater lake surrounded by open pine forest and dry eastern Cascades foothills near Winthrop. The park offers expansive views of the North Cascades peaks to the west, especially at sunset. The dry climate and low light pollution make it suitable for night sky photography. ## Photography guide - Best time of day: golden hour - Crowds: quiet - Best seasons: summer, fall - Shot types: landscape, reflection, astrophotography - Tags: lake, sunset, pine forest, dark skies, reflection **Practical tips.** A Discover Pass is required for vehicle entry. The park has camping available and the lake is warm enough for swimming in summer. ## Author's comments *The Methow Valley sits in a particular kind of light that does not exist on the wet side of the mountains. It is drier, harder, more honest. The pines are spaced in a way that lets the light through, and the hills above the lake go gold in late August in a way that reminds me more of the interior West than of Washington. Pearrygin is a working park. Families, swimmers, the kind of camping that involves coolers and folding chairs. I do not mean that as a complaint. It means that in the early hours and the last hour of the day, when the day-use crowd has settled or scattered, the lake belongs to whoever is willing to wait for it. The North Cascades sit on the western horizon, and at sunset they go from blue to violet to something almost black, and the lake holds the color in reverse below them. Stay for the night sky. That is the real reason to come. Winthrop is small and far from anything, and the stars over the eastern foothills are the kind I associate with the desert Southwest rather than the Pacific Northwest. A new moon in September, the Milky Way still arcing high in the early evening, the pines dark against it. I have made photographs here that I could not have made an hour west of the pass. It is not a dramatic park. It is a quiet one, and it rewards the photographer who is willing to be patient with a landscape that does not announce itself.* ## Photos - ![A wide panoramic view of Pearrygin Lake at golden hour, with calm water reflecting the bright sky and a line of floating buoys stretching across the lake. Grassy shoreline, leafy trees, and sunlit hills frame the scene, with darker pine-covered ridges rising in the distance.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/0.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Calm lake water reflects the golden light on grassy hills and scattered pine-covered ridges under a clear blue sky. A line of yellow buoys floats across the foreground, with a few small houses tucked into the hills across the water.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/1.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Golden-hour light warms a calm lake at Pearrygin Lake State Park, with ripples reflecting green hills dotted with pine trees. A wooden fishing pier and reeds line the left shore beneath a clear blue sky.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/2.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![A sunlit dock stretches into a calm lake at golden hour, with a lone person seated at the end and soft reflections rippling across the water. Pine-covered hills rise in the background under a pale sky, with warm light fading over the shoreline.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/3.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Golden-hour light warms a quiet lake edged by tall grasses, willows, and a small wooden pier. Rolling pine-covered hills rise beyond the water, with the shoreline and trees reflected in the calm surface.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/4.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Sunlit trees and a grassy lakeshore frame a calm stretch of Pearrygin Lake, with a dark pine-covered hillside rising in the background under a clear blue sky. Warm golden light catches the tops of the foliage, leaving the foreground in soft shade.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/5.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Golden-hour sunlight stretches long shadows across a mowed grassy lawn lined with leafy green trees, with Pearrygin Lake visible in the background at right. The scene is calm and open, with a clear blue sky and low hills beyond the water.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/6.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Golden-hour light warms a grassy park clearing with picnic tables, tall leafy trees, and a few bare branches near the center. Long shadows stretch across the lawn under a clear blue sky, with a volleyball net and a few people in the background.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/7.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![A dark turtle shell sits on a gravelly, weed-dotted shoreline in soft golden-hour light, with a few blades of grass and dry lake-edge debris around it. The close-up composition focuses on the shell’s segmented pattern and glossy surface.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/8.webp) (Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0) - ![Rolling green hills and open meadow fill the foreground, with dark pine-covered ridges layered in the distance under a thick, textured sky. Soft light breaks through the clouds, giving the landscape a moody, late-day glow.](https://pnwsights.localzen.org/places/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/9.webp) (Randy Wick / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0) ## Location 48.4978, -120.1491 · [Open in Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=48.4978,-120.1491) ## Nearby places - [Washington Pass Overlook](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/washington-pass-overlook-winthrop.md) (Winthrop, WA) - Washington Pass Overlook offers dramatic views of Liberty Bell Mountain and the Early Winters Spires, among the most iconic alpine formations in the North Cascades. - [Blue Lake (North Cascades)](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/blue-lake-north-cascades-winthrop.md) (Winthrop, WA) - Blue Lake sits at the base of Liberty Bell Mountain and Early Winters Spires at approximately 6,300 feet elevation. - [Cutthroat Lake](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/cutthroat-lake-winthrop.md) (Winthrop, WA) - Cutthroat Lake is a subalpine lake at 4,935 feet nestled beneath the rugged Cutthroat Peak in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. - [Rainy Lake Trail](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/rainy-lake-trail-winthrop.md) (Winthrop, WA) - Rainy Lake is a glacially-fed cirque lake accessible via a flat, paved 1.8-mile round trip trail from Rainy Pass on Highway 20. - [Maple Pass Loop](https://www.pnwsights.com/place/maple-pass-loop-winthrop.md) (Winthrop, WA) - The Maple Pass Loop is a 7.2-mile trail that climbs to a 6,850-foot ridge offering panoramic views of Lake Ann, Rainy Lake, and the surrounding North Cascades peaks. --- Page: https://www.pnwsights.com/place/pearrygin-lake-state-park-winthrop/ · [All parks & wilderness in the Pacific Northwest](https://www.pnwsights.com/parks.md) · [PNWSights home](https://www.pnwsights.com/index.md)