Heather - Maple Pass Loop — Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025

The dog and I arrived early and were on the trail by 7am. Quite a few cars in the parking lot that looked like they were there all night. Still plenty of room though. Lot was full when I came down around 1pm with cars starting to park along the highway.  We chose clockwise as I figure it tires the dog out quicker.  Sure seemed steeper this year to me.  This direction has all the steep switch backs and tree roots to hike up.  Sat at the top for a snack and had good views and first time in a long time no smoke when I have been up here.  Only encountered bugs in one marsh spot coming down.  Trail was good very little dust today.  As usual with my choice of direction we met a lot of people headed up when we were going down.  A friendly bunch of people today and had lots of short conversations.