Heather - Maple Pass Loop — Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022

Nice hike, although if you want to be in the parking lot you need to get there insanely early.  Otherwise there is parking along the freeway that has been created since they know this is a go to place.

Smoke - If you are coming from the west, Newhalem and the  Diablo Lake are thick with smoke: It was a shame to see tourists looking for the dam or lake  which was obscured by smoke.  To a lesser degree there is smoke on the trail but it's not as thick, so not having smoke as thick as fog makes it easy to forget the threat is still present.  So if you have health issues, think about if this will impact you.

I took the clock wise route and wondered if this was the best choice.  I did this for two reasons.  (1) I wanted to get the elevation over with as soon as possible, rather than a 4 mile-ish uphill slow hike by going counter clockwise (2) starting off in the morning you have the sun behind you, which is great for picture taking.  Keep in mind while the clockwise direction has a little more solitude, you get to meet everyone going down hill after Heather Pass, and chat with their dog on the way back down as well. 

Despite the distance from Seattle,smoke and crowds, I was glad I hiked this trail.  The area is amazing and the larches are all golden right now!  The area has fall foliage in bloom, and so just south of Maple Pass I found plenty of photo opportunities with out very much smokey haze.