Cutthroat Pass via the Pacific Crest Trail — Friday, Sep. 29, 2023

My first time hiking this trail.  Could be my favorite hike ever, it's that good.  Plenty of parking at the trailhead (arrived Friday morning at 8am with several parking spots available, left the hike at 2pm and parking lot was about 75% full, so still plenty of spaces available).  Clean pit toilets at the trailhead.  The trail is extremely well maintained.  Easy to navigate, no obstacles to overcome besides a few very easy water crossings.  The trail is very gradual and not difficult at all.  About 500 feet of elevation gain the first 2 miles, and then about 500 feet of gain each mile over the next 3 miles we did.  Never felt like we were exhausted on the hike.  Once we got about 3.5 miles in we got out of the thick woods and the larches were plentiful.  Absolutely beautiful.  I would say they were 70% turned at this point.  There were quite a few other hikers, a couple of horseback riders, and lots of dogs.  People were friendly and polite.  We spent 6 hours on the trail doing 5 miles out and back, but about an hour of that time was taking photographs and stopping to take in the sites. No bears or mountain goats.  A couple of woodpeckers and several chipmunks. The beauty if this hike is an absolute wonder to the eyes right now!