We left the Rainy Pass trailhead at 12:15pm. The trail was in good condition to Heather Pass and completely snow-covered. We saw a handful of hikers, snowshoers, and skiers -- we were grateful for our snowshoes but jealous of the skiers!

It seemed like most of the non-skiers had been turning around around Heather Pass. (And from this point on, it would have been extremely hard going without snowshoes or skis.) Soon after passing Heather Pass, the trail disappeared. We decided to try to get to Maple Pass, but to make it back to the trail by sunset (4:50pm). First, we traversed a moderate snow slope (during which we decided to sign up for an avy course soon...). Then we departed from the summer trail and turned right, heading straight up to the ridge that Maple Pass is on. (Continuing on the summer traverse would have meant a sketchy-looking traverse.) The going was very tough in snowshoes -- lots of powdery snow, with a bit of breakable crust thrown in. We hit the ridge a bit north of Maple Pass, at coordinates 48.50610, -120.76879. To this point we'd had great visibility, but there was a cloud parked on this part of the ridge so we didn't get any views to the west.

Descending back to the snowfield traverse sucked. We tried taking off our snowshoes and plunge-stepping, but we were sinking in to our waists every few steps. We were grateful to make it back to Heather Pass with a few minutes of daylight to spare. The return trip was glorious -- we had the place to ourselves, and we got great sunset colors and then a full moon. We only needed our headlamps once we were in the forest.

Our car was the only one still there when we returned at 6:30pm.

Snuck in one last larch hike for the season with a sunrise hike up to Maple Pass on 10.21.25.

ROAD: The road was clear and fine for any car. We parked on the shoulder at Rainy Pass.

TRAIL: I used microspikes from the start. There was a good bootpack of compact snow and ice, which was firm at 5.30 a.m. when we began our hike. The bootpack was easily followed until we got closer to gaining the ridge up to the ridge at Maple Pass, where some snow had drifted over the track.

It looks like most people opted to turn around around shortly after the pass. There were tracks leading further on but it was not as established - mainly deep post-holes. We decided it wasn't worth forging on without snowshoes so, like the masses that had come before, we turned around and hiked back the way we had come.

There were a few hardy larches still clinging on to golden needles, but winter is definitely the vibe in the North Cascades right now. The sunrise was a bit muted but still beautiful in a glorious setting and we thoroughly enjoyed the complete solitude we had on such a (normally) very busy hike!

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Probably one of the last days of larch season for 2025 - we showed up at around 2pm, parking lot was open and mostly full but we were still able to get a spot. Went up the trail counterclockwise, ran into a few groups but pretty quiet overall. Trail started out muddy, then quickly turned into slush and later on full snow as we went up in elevation. Lots of rain, sleet, and snow as we traversed through the trail. Still a few larches hanging on, but likely not for long as the storm was rolling in. Microspikes definitely a must, since trail was frequently slippery due to snow and ice. Trail markers were very handy at the top since snow covered footsteps quickly. Parking lot completely empty by the time we made it down as sun was down. Conditions were cloudy so visibility was low. 

Larch needles on snow like cinnamon on a foamy coffee

The trailhead parking is closed right now but parking was easy on the side of the road at 7:30. The trail has snow pretty much most of the hike but didn’t put any spikes on until the way down. The snow and the larches were a good combo. As expected tons of people so be prepared for that. Round trip was 7.6 miles and 2,238 feet elevation gain.