Easy Pass — Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022

We hiked Easy Pass yesterday with our 2.5 year old Aussie pup, and as others have noted, (1) there was some smoke in the air (but I imagine the AQI wasn’t too bad), and (2) fall foliage was in peak form! I also picked and snacked on a few (over)ripe huckleberries from their red bushes - they are ultra sweet this late in the season :)

Of note: we found that the distance of the hike we logged via GPS to the top (4.6 mi) was different from the WTA number (3.5 mi). We don’t know why this is - maybe GPS was malfunctioning, but that would be a first for me - or maybe some switchbacks were added through the scree field. But a mile difference (or two extra miles round trip!!) makes a big difference to your day hike plan. The elevation we logged was spot on with WTA though (2800 ft). As well, I would not recommend this hike for people (or dogs!!!) who are not ready to navigate lots of loose scree, as this was our life for the second half of the ascent. It was especially tricky on the way down, where I slipped a couple times, even with hiking poles (recommended). Finally, the bridge near the start of the trail has lost its railings, and is about 20 feet long, 5 feet above a cold, but shallow, rushing creek. If this isn’t your thing, beware.

As one hiker told us on their way down - the foliage gets better and better as you climb. In the valley, you’re greeted with lots of yellow and orange (sumac I think?!), and as you make your way up, you gradually mix in more and more brilliant red huckleberries. As you really start to make gains in the scree field, you’ll see golden larches here and there within the reds. At the top, it’s larch city. I’ve attached a few pictures from the day. Seeing the golden evening sun filtering through the golden needles was unreal, and the expansive views across the smoky valley with jagged mountaintops in the distance was a worthy reward for the hard (not “Easy”!) hike up. After a snack, we made our way back down, and eventually finished the last half mile of the hike with our headlamps on.