Golden Horn - Snowy Lakes, Cutthroat Pass via the Pacific Crest Trail — Sunday, Sep. 23, 2007

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

September 22nd, 2007: Snowy Lakes A spectacular hike to a land of sweeping vistas, with a full bag of Mother Nature’s tricks thrown in for good measure... 5:30am had me hiking under a blanket of clouds. Rain fell as a fine mist, light enough to almost, but not quite ignore. The first hour was through damp forest, but the going was smooth and pleasant on the marvel of engineering that is the Pacific Crest Trail. As I moved out of the trees, it was bright enough to make out Cutthroat Pass at the head of the valley. Ghostly clouds rolled up the valley and the rain soon turned to light snow. Despite the gloomy conditions, up ahead beyond Cutthroat Pass, I could see some blue skies through a hole in the clouds. Holding on to the promise of better weather I made good progress and reached the pass 2 hours after starting. As soon as I crested the saddle of Cutthroat Pass, it was wow, wow, wow! Wind whipped snow drove into my face, clammy and insistent, but I could barely feel it. Across the Cutthroat Creek valley, a sea of peaks glinted in a band of sunlight. Dark clouds hung low over the mountains and mist hung in the valleys, but in the far distance sunlight occupied the middle regions. Stunning! Sights like this make you feel grateful to be alive. As I headed towards Granite Pass, battling the wind, the views remained gorgeous. The light improved as more holes opened up in the cloud deck; I enjoyed sunlight picking out detail on the jagged spires of The Needles. The trail too was beautiful in its light dusting of snow. Just before the final drop down to Granite Pass, I got my first fleeting views of Golden Horn, but they were gone just as quickly as they appeared. Granite Pass was a pretty little larch filled saddle. (A couple of weeks from now it should be even more beautiful when all the larches have turned yellow. Right now only a few precocious ones were on with the switch.) Views on offer were Mount Hardy and the Swamp Creek valley. I continued along the flat trail, traversing across steep slopes, until reaching the Snowy Lakes outlet creek. Here, at a pretty meadow, I turned right and made the final climb up to Snowy Lakes. Lower Snowy Lake was a smallish tarn in a pretty meadow. While the ‘lake’ itself was reasonably pretty, the setting was superb. Golden Horn was an arresting sight dead ahead, while Tower Mountain rose high on my right, its tops wreathed in mist. Both peaks had a fresh coat of snow which gave them quite a dramatic appearance. I followed a pretty stream up a slight bench to reach Upper Snowy Lake. Around this time, a shaft of sunlight pierced the clouds and fell on the slopes of Golden Horn…and the slopes turned golden! At that instant I could not think of a more apt name for a peak. I happily took my photographs and climbed up a short way up Golden Horn to get better views of the lakes and surroundings. The way back was a lot of fun: the snow finally stopped, the sun became bolder and the views lovely. Additional pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani/sets/72157602128517113 Stats: • Distance: 20mi • Elevation gain: 4,000ft • Total hiking time: 9hrs