Chain Lakes Loop — Saturday, Sep. 27, 2025

We had this weekend planned for this hike for a while and it did not disappoint. The fall foliage was beautiful and every new section of the trail was a different iconic view.

We ended up hiking clockwise from Heather Meadows to get the hard parts out of the way and I get why people hike counter clockwise for certain views, but you see all the same things regardless imo.

Visibility was the only issue - we never got to fully see Shuksan and Baker, just little pieces of them. But it was still incredibly pretty and worth the trip with the changing fall colors and multitude of other panoramic views.

Parking at Heather Meadows was the smart move - smaller lot, but much less crowded than Artist Point. We got to the trail head around 10:30am I think and were able to snag a spot. I think there were less people going earlier in the day due to the cloudy weather and trying to wait for the sun to break later in the afternoon.