Welcome Pass and the High Divide

A beautiful day to visit this seldom-trafficked part of North Cascades. The short F.S. road from Highway 542 to the trail head had a strip of vegetation down the middle, but is in good condition overall - no issues for my low-clearance subaru. Arrived to the trail head around 11 am, to find only three other cars there. The trail up to the pass was in welcome shade, but the 68 switchbacks were just as brutal as promised. Once at the pass, we were presented with a fantastic wildflower panorama, and about a billion hungry horse flies, mosquitoes and other assorted bugs. Moving up the ridge slope to find a moving breeze fixed that problem. Walked a mile or so along the high divide, gawked at the views, took a bunch of photos. Many huckleberry plants grow on the high divide, and with some work I found a patch that were ripe but not yet picked over by critters or hikers. Delicious! Turned around and walked back to the car down the steep, steep trail - was very happy to have my hiking poles for that part of the trek.

Now is a great time to hike this trail. The tread is in great shape - only slightly overgrown in the meadows, clear and easy to follow in the woods. The only stream crossing is trivial rock-hopping. There is barely any snow left around the pass and along the high divide - certainly none on the trail itself. I was glad to have packed in all the water I needed, though - the choices on the trail would be down to filtering from one of the few murky puddles, or melting down one of the remnants snow patches. Only saw two small groups of people the whole day. No animals other than birds or bugs, though I think I heard a marmot call at one point.