Breathtakingly beautiful! This is my favorite hike and obviously the favorite of many others, too. The trailhead is well signed with ample parking and a clean outhouse. This is a loop, but I prefer to take it counter clockwise. This way is easier on the ascent and also allows the trail to reveal its beauties one at a time. The trail is in fine shape all around the loop, but the descent down the east part of the loop is choking in dust right now. The trail sashays up gentle switchbacks and around a bowl before stretching out for a long haul along a steep slope overlooking Lake Ann. A couple of switchbacks later it arrives at Heather Pass. This meadow is so enchanting that it strongly tempts one to stay here or explore further, perhaps even to mint-green Lewis Lake. Continuing on to Maple Pass is slow going because with every step the views dazzle and delight. The North Cascades are a stunning wonder and in full display here. The pass itself is a large, broad Alpine area with plenty of places to linger, enjoy lunch, or thrill to the views north or south. From here you can see Glacier Peak, many glaciers and other mountains, and slopes ablaze with red ground cover. More hefty altitude gain brings you to the high point of the pass, approximately 6800 feet and even more temptation to stay for hours. The way down is steep but offers even more scenic vistas and lots of larches. The latter are not all quite fully golden yet, but close. The trail threads the narrow ridgeline precipitously at times all the while delivering a feast for the eyes. At one point it is possible to look down into Lake Ann and Rainy Lake at the same time! That's a narrow ridge! The way down from here is a knee killing series of steep switchbacks before the trail finally joins the handicapped accessible paved tread that goes to Rainy Lake. Taking this west completes the loop back to the parking lot.

This hike has been on my “to-do” list for years now and after finally completing it, I have no idea why I waited so long to do so. This hike is gorgeous! We decided to make our way to the trailhead Friday evening with the plan of sleeping in the car and getting an early jump on the trail. We woke up to temps in the mid 40’s which quickly climbed as the sun broke through the mixture of morning fog, broken low clouds and wildfire haze. We went what seems to be the more traditional counter clockwise route, passing up the Lake Ann turnoff and continuing up and around the cirque rim. Aside from a handful of Ptarmigans up top, we didn't have any other wildlife sightings from the trail. The view of the surrounding North Cascades from the top was amazing despite the wildfire haze obscuring the view a bit. The colors are incredible and only going to be getting more intense in the coming weeks. The loop took us about 5 ½ hours with multiple photo breaks and a lunch break up top.

We choose to do this hike in the afternoon to give the clouds a chance to burn off. As we drove east on highway 20 the blue sky came through, and though cool in the cloudy west side, the temperature rose into the upper 70’s as we approched Rainy Pass. No extra layers of clothing were needed on this hike! We were hoping to catch the larches in their golden glory and we were not disappointed. A good half of the larches have turned. No berries were found to pick but the Huckleberry bushes were aglow in red at Heather Pass. We hiked counter clockwise to take advantage of the more gentle ascent on this beautiful loop trail.

With forest fires burning all over eastern Washington, I drove up to Rainy Pass on the evening before the hike. The conditions were awful - smoke was dense west of Washington Pass. I was staying in Winthrop so I decided that I would get up early and drive back up on the morning of the 20th. It was beautiful with little or no smoke. I was on the trail by 8:00 and at the pass by 10:50 and the conditions were great. There was no water on the trail and the huckleberries were gone, but the colors were splendid, especially around Heather Pass. The smoke and haze increased as I ate lunch and started back down. The loop down to Rainy Lake was not nearly as scenic but all in all it was a great outing. If, like me, you are old and slow carry plenty of water

It's easy to see why this is a popular hike, this hike has it all, it's easy to get to, driving through some beautiful countryside, it's a loop, and it is downright spectacular. This trail can be snowy mid-September, but this year brought blue skies & warm temperatures. There were a number of hikers on the trail, but not so thick that a person couldn't have a lot of solitude. The autumn colors are putting in an appearance, and I can only guess that a couple weeks from now the colors will be even better. The views were a little hazy due to smoke in the air from Eastern Washington wildfires, but really did not detract from the views. I've hiked this trail both directions now, and I find I prefer hiking counter-clockwise, partly because of views, but also because I prefer the steepest rockiest portion of this trail to be on the descent rather than the ascent.