Larchaholics come get your fix. You would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful collection of golden larches in such a spectacular setting. If that's not enough there's no retracing steps since the trail makes a big loop. The trailhead is off of the North Cascades Highway at Rainy Pass. The larches are currently at their peak fall color. The trail is in great condition except for a few easy icy areas. Views from the pass are outstanding and there's not a clearcut in sight. Loop trip is about 8 miles and 2000 feet elevation gain. There is no water on the loop trail so bring plenty. Saturday was kind of crowded so if you can swing a weekday it would be even greater.

The drive from Seattle to Rainy Pass is about 3.5 hours. Plus 5 hours of hiking, it makes a long day trip, but well worth it on a sunny Oct day like this. We started around noon and took the loop trip, starting towards Lake Ann. The view during the whole hike was fantastic, down to Lake Ann, around to many peaks, including Corteo Peak from Maple Pass, and many snow covered peaks to the south (Glacier Peak one of them). On the loop down we also got glimpse of Rainy Lake. The trail was a bit muddy at a few spots, but otherwise in excellent condition.

Went up with a few friends to visit Maple Pass in the Fall and I can sum up the journey in one word: Awesome! We headed up highway 20 on an overcast day. Visibility wasn't great, we could only see about 5 or 6 miles, but the floral was great. All of the larch trees are changing colors, and along with the heather and other plants, the surroundings are great. The trail is in great shape. A little muddy but easy to follow. It even snowed on us most of the journey, which made it even more beautiful. Fall is definitely here. It was very cold up there (40 degrees at the trailhead), so bring winter clothes!

Started out on Maple Pass Loop trail, Sunday at 10:15 a.m. Only two cars in the parking lot. The day was clear, cool and sunny. The trail is in good shape. The fall colors far exceed even those of Cascade Pass, which I always thought were the best. There are some icy places on the trail at Heather Pass, above Horsefly Pass and below Maple Pass, but nothing one can't navigate by carefully placing their feet and using hiking poles REALLLLLLY helps. Not much in the way of wildlife; a couple of pikas and chipmunks and that was it. Glacier Peak was a bit clouded over, but the views from Maple Pass and/or Horsefly Pass are outstanding......360 degrees. It was sunny, but a very strong-cold wind was blowing that sent a couple of people in shorts and tank tops down the trail quickly. We were back to the car at 3:15 and had spent lots of time taking pictures, eating lunch, and gazing around. Great hike.

For the third year in row - an awful weather forecast for the only 3-day weekend that trails in Washington aren't buried under snow. We weren't going to sit home and sulk so off to the Okanogan we went. We planned to do the Lost River trail in the rain, but clear skies Saturday night (hiker's delight) in the Washington Pass area had us thinking... let's go alpine! We drove from Lone Fir campground up to Rainy Pass under blue skies Sunday morning (yea!) and hit the Maple Pass trail just before 9:30am. The trail is similar to that up to Easy Pass, but in much better condition and with better views. 2 wonderful hours later we were at the pass. The cloud level was at about 9000' so we could see every summit except that of Glacier Peak. The best view was of Black Peak rising straight up out of Lewis Lake from just above Heather Pass. The trail was in immaculate condition. No matter who you bring it won't take any longer than 4.5 hours round trip. This is one of the best dayhikes off of Hwy 20 that I've ever done (on par with Sahale Peak and Cutthroat Pass). A month from now will be prime time - after the larch turn gold. If I had one complaint it was the hordes of people on the trail - literally dozens of them, and several dogs. You get sick of saying ""hi"" to complete strangers after a while.