As other hikes have mentioned, we avoided the Congo line hiking up Maple Pass by going to cutthroat Pass instead. The parking lot was almost full and I think there might have been people parking there to walk across the street to Maple Pass. On the trail itself all was very quiet and peaceful with just the occasional respectful hikers coming up or down.
Fall foliage, leaves, raspberry bushes, etc, were stunning. The larches midway up have not turned but when they do in a week or two they will be fantastic. This includes a basin full of larches that is on the trail.
The larches for the last quarter of the hike to the top are golden to almost there. The views were gorgeous and as others have noticed, the area by Diablo lake was very smoky but all cleared once close to the trailhead. Hiking time was about 4 hours and 30 minutes for us. The ascent is nice and gradual and for a 10 mile hike, it was very doable in a day. We had plenty of time to hang out at the top as well.
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