Hit the trail at first light on Thursday, 8/25 with a group of 7 men & made it to Cutthroat Pass by 8:30am for a quick break & to take in the amazing scenery. From there we made the rest of the trek in a few hours and were set up at Upper Snowy Lake by 11:30am.
Still a few snow patches on the trail but nothing you can't go around or make it across on your own.
So many bugs at Snowy Lakes that we either spent hours on end in our tents or walking around swatting the bugs off of us. Other than the bugs, had an amazing time.
Some of our crew made it up Mt. Hardy & they said it was the most incredible views they'd ever seen. Others made it up Golden Horn & said it was also amazing.

You can now feel good about traveling the high country along the PCT north of Rainy Pass. The trail to the Snowy Lakes junction is passable to an old guy and his 12-year-old son, so you can do it too. We set out on a hot Saturday afternoon for a four-day trip to Snowy Lakes, and encountered surprisingly few hikers. We tented the first night at the industrial camp site just below Cutthroat Pass. We are fairly tough and formidable foes to predators, but a couple of the weaker neighbors got dragged off into the woods by the bigger mosquitoes. I heard the squealing but didn't see them again. You might want to pack your bug spray.

Once past Cutthroat Pass, many snow fields still cover the trail, and some of them still look scary, especially in the descent from the south into (or rise from the north out of) Granite Pass. But now there are no scary snow fields that you have to cross. You can go around the scary ones. Trust me -- if you come to a scary looking snow field just go around it.

Other than snow fields the trail is in great shape. And did I mention views. Goodness gracious the views. Once you climb out of the Porcupine Creek drainage the views get bigger and bigger and are practically nonstop once you reach Cutthroat Pass. Stop gaping long enough to cross the few snow patches. And then really start to pay attention on the drop into Granite Pass. Otherwise just make certain you have plenty of battery power and your compact flash has plenty of space. You are going to be snapping lots of photos.

From there the hike to Snowy Lakes is spectacular, and the trail is totally uneventful. It's a grunt up from the little stream-side campsite along the PCT -- but nothing you won't get past if you came that far. Camp on the bench on the east side of the lower lake to avoid the wind and enjoy the views. We had the entire basin to ourselves for 24 hours and basked in the glory. We were planning a second night, but the boy's boots imploded and we decided we better break the hike out up just in case. He ended up hiking the last 2 miles out in his Crocs. So much for hand-me-down boots!

"Augtober" - that's what I'm calling it. The warmth of August combined with the peaking larch trees of October. After fantastic fall leaf color the previous week at Mt. David, Gary and I were out to enjoy a larch backpacking trip. It's a long drive to Rainy Pass in the North Cascades so we met in South Everett at a park & ride at 5:30 am. We were past Darrington before sunrise but it was hard to tell as it was lightly raining with thick low clouds. As we drove east it began to clear and was sunny at the trailhead. The forecast was for partly sunny on Saturday and mostly cloudy with a chance of rain on Sunday. We hoped to have a little sun the first day to light up the larch trees.

Reports showed that larch trees were turning golden earlier than usual. We hoped to be at least close to the peak though it was just past the end of September. The route is on the Pacific Crest Trail and it is known for it's gentle elevation gain. There were already 7 or 8 cars in the 4800' lot as we started off at 8:30 am. It was a little chilly but not like early October. I just had on a very light long sleeve shirt.

The trail climbs easily in forest before breaking out into the open near a slabby waterfall. From here Cutthroat Pass comes into view. The next 2 /1/2 miles winds through mostly meadows and stands of larch trees. Larch are visible all over from the waterfall spot. There was no sun on the larch trees but we could see that most of them were golden. The Crest Trail makes long gentle switchbacks as it climbs to Cutthroat Pass. We saw one official campsite with two tents. Our camping plans were up in the air. If larch were not yet turned we thought about dropping to Cutthroat Lake in search of golden needles. We also considered camping near the pass and spending the day wandering the larch if they were near peak. We also considered heading on to Snowy Lakes and camping there.

Gary had been to Snowy Lakes twice but I had never been on any of the trail. His last visit was 14 years ago and both trips were during summer. He had not seen the larch there when they were golden. We met two backpackers who had camped below Snowy Lakes and they informed us the larch were excellent all along the way. We soon reached the 6800' pass to find thousands of golden larch on the other side. The morning sun was shining on them and really lit them up. Much photography ensued.

We met two runners at the pass who were running from up and over past Cutthroat Lake and down to Rainy Pass. We took one hour to hike the first 2 1/2 miles to the waterfall and two hours to hike the next 2 1/2 miles to the pass. Way too many larch trees slowed us down a lot. It was still only 11:30 thanks to our early start from town. After lunch and a short debate we chose to continue on to Snowy Lakes. The trail is now completely out in the open. Views to many high peaks and down to acres of larch trees.

The mostly cloudy sky never materialized. It was clear and just kept getting warmer. Golden larch means mid October and that means sub freezing mornings, cool afternoons, and often snow on the ground. This year it meant summer heat and not a cloud in the sky. Like I said "Augtober". It was plenty warm in short sleeves. We moved at a glacial pace as the golden larch were terrific. The sheer number of golden larch trees exceeded anything I have seen before. The route is mostly flat as it contours below the ridge. We rounded a bend into western Washington and began a series of switchbacks down to Granite Pass.

Granite Pass is at about 6300'. Looking ahead we could see the trail as it continued to the valley of Snowy Lakes and then to Methow Pass. High above are Tower Mountain, Golden Horn, and Mt. Hardy. The pass is forested with many larch trees. The next two miles to the Snowy Lakes junction has no larch. The trail was blasted in many places from large rock slabs. There are also three of four avalanche gullies. The trail here is a little narrow with some huge drop offs.

Although it was down right hot now we sped up covering the two miles in 42 minutes. It was around 2:15 at the junction. An unsigned trail climbs 500' to the first Snowy Lake. We chose to camp lower and day hike up to the lakes. We found a nice site, hung our food, and filled a water bag. Now we were free to head on. We planned to hike to the lakes then follow the ridge up and down to Methow Pass then take the PCT back to camp. The larch trees just got better as we ascended. Below the lower lake we ran into Joanna, Josh, and Michael, just coming down from Golden Horn.

We had heard a call of "rock!" earlier with the sound of falling rocks. At the lower lake we found the folks involved. Nikolai and a friend had just returned from climbing Tower Mountain. No shortage of acquaintances. We continued the short way to the upper lake. There were only a few parties camped there. Not the hoards I feared. We could now see the other side of Methow Pass and the valley below was filled with golden larch trees. The low afternoon sun set them afire. What a place!

We realized that following the ridge would not get us the best larch views and would take more time than we had figured. Instead we just climbed up the first part of the ridge. We had great views of peaks and countless larch trees. The vast majority of larch we saw this day were very near the peak. A few still green and a few dropping needles. Most were just perfect. As the sun set the lower lake was cast in shade. We were at an angle where the dark sunless lake had trees reflected in it. When backpackers arrived their reflection shone in the dark lake. A very neat optical occurrence. It was 6:00 pm when we headed down.

We arrived at camp in time to cook dinner before dark. Though the sky was clear and the sun down it was slow to cool. We remained outside looking at the dark sky and myriads of stars until 9:00 pm. I doubt it dropped below 45 degrees in the tent over night. We were up at 6:30 am and on the trail just after 8:00 am. It was partly clear though clouds were moving in. The hike back was easy as we had only about 1000' of cumulative gain. The 9.6 miles went by fast. We passed two PCT through hikers who said they were only two days away from finishing.

The clouds left most of the larch colors muted. though we did have a few sun breaks that lit them up again. Below Cutthroat Pass we began to see hikers. Half a dozen groups were coming up. We also stopped to see a large family of grouse on both sides and the middle of the trail. We managed a few good photos. Once the larch were done we sped up making very good time the last 2 1/2 miles. We reached the car at 12:30 pm. The lot was now nearly full. In about 2:40 minutes we were back at Gary's car.

This was a very strange larch hike. Not a lot of people, extremely warm temperatures, no snow, no rain, no wind, and more golden larch than I have seen in one place. Like I said, "it was Augtober". An excellent weekend to be up in the mountains. For the two days we hiked about 21 miles with 4000' of gain.

78 photos, most of beautiful golden larch, have been posted at: http://www.hikingnorthwest.com. Go to "Trips-2010" on the left margin.

We left Rainy Pass around noon on Friday Aug 13, and after a half mile or so, I discovered I'd left my single trekking pole behind in the parking lot; I guess it's not enough of a habit that I miss it when it's not in my hand. Off to a great start. We continued on and I asked one of the several thru-hikers/runners to set it on our car if she saw it. Bless her, it was waiting on our windshield when we returned on Sunday.

The temperature wasn't overly warm, and in fact some clouds cooled things off in the afternoon. The trail to Cutthroat Pass is in great shape, though the log with the sloping flat surface over Porcupine Creek would be sporty when wet. We had first lunch on the knoll south of the pass, then headed toward Granite Pass. I had read about the fork in the trail where one should stay left, heading up around the end of the ridge. It's pretty obvious when you get there; it looks as if the right fork was a mistake by the trail crew when they discovered that around the corner are unstable cliffs, so they rerouted the trail higher. The only snowpatch near any part of the trail was at the bottom of the short switchbacks at the top of the descent.

My wife's not too fond of skinny out-sloping trails across exposed slopes, but the section of trail across the four slide zones below Tower Mtn were fine, though I see why they're not recommended for stock -- at least any horses you like.

The flowers were out in places, and we had been warned by hikers we met that the mosquitoes were out in profusion at the lakes and the junction campsite. They were indeed. When the breeze picked up it would disperse them, but otherwise they were plentiful and enthusiastic.

We camped at the meadow where the way trail takes off for Snowy Lakes. There was a tent in the main site, belonging to a woman who was doing the Rainy Pass to Harts Pass segment of the PCT. We looked around for alternative sites nearby, and finding nothing decent, set up in the meadow a discreet distance away. The next day, we discovered that there's a pretty nice site 5 minutes up the trail toward the lakes. There are also lots of sites at the lakes, particularly Upper Snowy Lake, but after the 9.5 mile hike in we weren't inclined to climb the 500 feet in the afternoon sun.

The next morning, we relocated our tent to the main site after the woman continued on her way, then went up to the lakes. What a spectacular area! While my partner lounged at the upper lake, I went up to the ridge between Golden Horn and Tower Mountain and explored around for a couple of hours, then returned and jumped in the lake to cool off. We headed back down to our tent to find that we had been joined by five other tents. Logical for a Saturday night, I suppose. Nice enough folks, in for the weekend except for one Canadian couple who were going from Rainy Pass to Manning Park.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed out. Lots of trail runners doing the one way route between Rainy Pass and the Cutthroat trailhead. The hottest part of the trip was the drive home, but a stop at Cascadian Farms alleviated that a bit.