Avoid the hundreds of cars at the Blue Lake, Maple Pass and Cutthroat Pass trailheads and drive two more hours to the Twisp Pass Trailhead. You will be glad you did. On this beautiful weather Saturday hike we saw 4 parties totaling 11 people for the day.
The two trails (Twisp Pass and Stiletto Spur) total about 6.6 miles and 3,300 ft one way. They are in excellent shape. The Twisp Pass Trail is rock strewn in places but clear and well defined. The Stiletto spur is in fantastic shape and seems maintained as well.
The lake, to me, is one of the prettiest in the Cascades. Scarlet colors of the huckleberries are brilliant. This is not the larchiest hike around. You begin seeing them at around 6500 ft on the spur trail and they are just starting to golden-up.
Enjoy this peaceful, colorful and uncrowded hike!
Comments
Hello! I think I may have chatted with you on this trail when my friend and I passed you on 9/28 afternoon on our way up to Stiletto Lake. I agree with your description - we loved how peaceful, colorful, and uncrowded this trail is!
I just typed in my trail report for our backpacking trip and day hike to the lake. Question: Did you notice any dead fish when you were at the lake? It's very strange/eerie. We found many, and were unsure what was going on.
Thank you!
Posted by:
lefrou18 on Oct 07, 2024 12:00 AM
Hey! I was at the lake later in the day on 9/28 and was alarmed by the dead fish as well. I reported it to the national park. Supposedly this is the third documented fish kill like this and they were never able to figure out what happened at the other lakes. Speculated it was an algal bloom that turned the water anoxic. They won't be able to get up there this year but planning to get a team up there next year.
Posted by:
Sambo on Oct 07, 2024 02:19 PM
Thank you so much Sambo for the response!
Posted by:
lefrou18 on Oct 07, 2024 05:11 PM
I had responded to your email with the following..... guess I was not signed it.
Good Morning!
Yes, we noticed many dead rainbow trout. I counted over 20, some very nice size. And it was weird. I was told by another party that some fisheries biologists had visited the lake the day before. I am a fly fisherman. There were still some live fish swimming around. But they all were working very hard with their gills to breath. So I am concluding that the lake has a lack of oxygen. Not sure why though.
Enjoy the rest of “Larch Season”!
Bill
Posted by:
billyd on Oct 07, 2024 07:19 PM
Thank you so much, Bill! I'm glad we weren't the only ones that saw such a strange and eerie scene! I did not know what kind of fish it was and hadn't seen that many before in an alpine lake. Thank you and hope you enjoy the rest of larch march!
Posted by:
lefrou18 on Oct 07, 2024 07:34 PM
Did you guys drink water from Stiletto lake (ofcourse filtered)?
Posted by:
natureMD1111 on Oct 09, 2024 09:02 AM
Thinking of backpacking this this weekend! Were there any streams/water sources on the trail?
Posted by:
ermahgerd_herks on Oct 10, 2024 08:50 AM