Cascade Pass,Heather Pass #740,Maple Pass #740

Cascade Pass: The Cascade River Road to the trailhead is gated at MP 21 (just before the road starts to get really steep). I didn't feel like road walking (kinda stupid in retrospect), so I turned around and headed up the North Cascades Highway.



So, driving up the highway, not sure where I was going to go, I ended up opting to repeat another of my favorite trails, the Heather/Maple Pass loop just south of Rainy Pass. The trail was almost entirely snowfree up to Heather Pass (I did the loop counterclockwise). From there though the snow started in earnest. In general, there were only 4 inches or so, and it had frozen hard. Where the trail rises steeply up from Maple Pass though, some windblown snow had been deposited and accumulated to about a foot. As far as routefinding is concerned, the trail is completely visible under the snow as far as Maple Pass, then it mostly disappears along the ridge that makes up the broad pass and the previously mentioned steep section (most difficult part), but then reappears again just below, on the far side of the high point. This portion of the trail is on a steep slope so it's very helpful that the accumulation was light enough to leave a relatively flat spot where the trail is. Since the way down is less sun exposed, the snow lasted quite a bit longer than the way up, but wasn't really a problem because it wasn't deep at all.

This hike was easy enough for me, largely because I have done it before, but should be passable to anyone who isn't snow-phobic as long as they pay close attention to a map through that trailless section. And of course there were several sets of footprints up there yesterday, but it's supposed to be snowing up there today, so those will be gone, and the conditions might be totally different depending on how much snow that area gets.

Fall colors are more or less finished for the season up there (larches are bare). The naked hills are waiting solemnly for the coming of winter...