Easy Pass — Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023

Beautiful larches and autumnal paradise at the pass!

Arrival: We arrived to the TH at 8:45 am and it wasn’t too busy, easily found a spot in the lot. There were a ton of cars speeding past this turn off presumably headed to more popular hikes.

Trail: Steady switchbacks through forest for the first leg of the trail. There are lots of fungi varietals near the forest floor that kept us entertained. The trail then crossed a creek that is manageable at this time of year and then broke out into a valley floor and scree fields filled with pikas. Their little meeps were so cute and boosted morale. There’s some traffic noise from Highway 20 through the forest, but starts to fade once you reach the scree fields. We then continued upwards towards the pass now with more switchbacks as we climbed up. Eventually we reached the final push, a series of long and short switchbacks thru talus slopes. The rocks shift underfoot as larches came into view above - we took our time thru this section as it also gets quite hot in the sun and the rocks are hard underfoot. Sections of this last part may get freaky if you are afraid of heights.

Pass: a beautiful, autumnal, larch grove! A huge array of larches with many young trees and 100+ year old trees with cones. In peak golden hues. There are many places to sit, nap, rest, and snack and enjoy the views out into the Fisher Basin and into the mountains east of Highway 20. Wish I had more time to spend here and looking forward to coming next summer and enjoying the changes in the landscape! Would definitely recommend this trail for less crowded larch march experience.

Hikers: the trail was moderately busy. There were long stretches where we were alone, especially on the descent I would say the busiest portion was the final push going up to the pass when a lot of people bunched up, but when we were at the top near the Pass everybody spread out, and it really did not feel very crowded. The NPS boundary isn’t until midway through the larch grove in the pass so it’s possible to take dogs on this trail up into the larches and stay within the forest service boundary.

Weather: bluebird day! Because of it being late in the season, there were still portions of shade throughout the whole trail, so it never got too hot, except on the talus switchbacks. Very beautiful and sunny with a light breeze in the pass. It almost felt like summer up there.

Wildlife: pikas abound! No other major wildlife sightings.