Easy Pass — Wednesday, Jul. 26, 2023

Not. Twenty somethings with long strong legs will have no problem with this hike, but we're the hiking grandmas and this for the rest of you. Don't be lulled by the easy uphill at the beginning, the hard part starts about mile 2 and gets harder after the last stream crossing and as you break out into the first open spots. The flowers are pretty much gone in this lower section, but the views are just beginning. The trail alternates between woods and the open rocky slope, all steep. You gain 3000' getting to the pass, and a lot of it is on rocks and scree. It was slow going for this old gal, I felt like I was hiking and hiking and never getting anywhere! As you climb, there are more flowers and views. The columbine are mostly gone, but there's swaths of regular and alpine fireweed, arnica and pearly everlasting. We could hear the whistling of marmots and the squeak of picas and ground squirrels on the rocks. I could also see the people that had passed me waaay up on the scree, they looked so tiny and far away, yikes will I ever get there? I was too darn tired to take pictures of the alpine flowers as I got higher up, but there were the showy seedheads of mtn anemone, yellow coralbells, veronica, partridge foot and (gotta love the name) dirty socks. Once at the pass (finally), the views are 360 outstanding, Fisher Creek Valley, over to Fisher Peak, Black Peak behind it, and Mt Logan looking east. West is Mesahchie Peak and a bunch of other ones. I think we could see Snowking Mtn toward the west, but my map didn't go that far. Check out the larch here, green now, but this would make a great larch hike for faster hikers than me. Now about going down, I went down in the same gear as going up, granny gear. It's just as hard as going up, but in a different way. I was the slowest hiker by far of anyone we met, but I'm old and ornery and not inclined to give up, this is too pretty a hike! So hey not to brag or anything, 9 hrs car to car! HAHA Seriously, this is a beautiful, but tough hike, much less popular than the others nearby, so if a 72 yr old can do it, you can too! Map says 3.9 miles to the pass, we got over 4. FYI We left Everett 500, ran into road construction detour on 530 by Arlington, detour at Smokey Point exit, then more road construction just outside of Darrington, flagger with pilot car. On trail by 815, so plan on 3+hr drive.  Loo at TH, also Newhalem and Diablo Lake overlook if you drank too much coffee. We got burger at Mondos, I turned over the car keys to one of the grandmas and had a beer. If you would like to help me raise funds for hikeathon: 

Muledeer my fundraiser for WTA