This trail is one of my new favorites!! We left Seattle at 7 a.m. Friday morning and arrived just after 10. There were already about 20 cars in the lot, but at least one person said they were actually going to Heather Maple Pass across the road.
We drove through a lot of wildfire smoke near diablo lake, but it cleared up by the trailhead. We had blue skies and warm weather!
The trail is easy to follow, and the fall colors start popping around mile 3. The larches are starting to turn, but a lot are still green.
Cutthroat pass was a nice spot for lunch, and then we continued north along the PCT. We had only seen about 5 other parties and after this point we only saw 2 more.
What I think is the most beautiful spot of the whole hike is right around Granite Pass. As you switchback gently, you get different mountain ranges on each side, with lots of larches and bright red blueberry leaves in the foreground!
We opted to set up our tents along the PCT at the turnout for Snow Lakes. We were the only ones there, too! We then hiked up to Lower and Upper snowy lakes. There were only 2 parties up there, so plenty of campsites. We saw several grouse, heard lots of pika, and found bear scat. But we never saw a bear.
The hike out on Saturday meant we passed a steady stream of backpackers heading to the lakes. After cutthroat pass, the trail was packed and we had to step off trail every 30 steps or so to let uphill hikers by.
Back at the trailhead, the parking lot and at least a mile of the main highway were lined with cars! Going on a Friday was the best decision we made!
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