Easy Pass, Fisher Creek — Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

Easy Pass trail in excellent conditions, even with heavy rain and thunder storms the day before. It's a steep hike, but well worth the effort. The last .7 mi was particularly steep, taking us an hour with our packs. Hike down the other side to fisher Creek camp was equally steep and the trail was not as well used, or in as good of condition; sloping off and overgrown. Great care was needed, and we were glad for our trekking poles. Our site at Fisher Creek camp had a great view of Mt. Logan. Black flies were biting, but the massive fields and hillsides filled with flowers more than compensated. Mosquitos were out in the morning. Hiking down Fisher Basin was an enchanted, moss-covered floor forest. One ford of Fisher Creek was a little challenging for us. Fording Logan Creek, of which we had been warned was even more challenging. We felt more comfortable going back downstream a ways, and wading across, rather than crossing on high logs over swift cascades. We heard a mother Black Bear, as we saw the treed cub, quite close to us on the trail. We hightailed out of there blowing our whistles. Junction Camp was very pleasant, with fires allowed, and no bugs. Great views. Thunder Creek basin had immediate vegetation change from Fisher Creek basin. We could have hiked out, but were enjoying the beauty of being there, so camped the last night at Neve Camp, which was also quite lovely. It was so nice that the few, slight showers had moved East. We had a fire, no bugs, lovely view of the river, and totally dry tent in the morning! Hiked out to Colonial Campground and our car after a leasurely morning in camp.