The larches are about 50% there - should be great next weekend! It was still beautiful today. The smoke was coming in toward the end of the afternoon and felt like about “moderate” AQI, though the air quality was great the rest of the day. I had looked at the AQI for Stehekin, which seemed pretty accurate, though maybe a little worse at the trailhead. It was a smoky drive as well from Seattle, worst at Diablo Lake.

Many larches are now golden, with lots changing and some yet to change. So go within the next two weeks if you wish to see golden larches this year.

Had a spectacular hike today up to the Pass for lunch and then back - 11.7 miles according to Apple health. I didn’t expect much in terms of golden larches but with no opportunities to go next weekend and with a blue sky forecast today, just decided to do this fun hike anyways. Coming in from the Eastside, smoke was noticeable in Newhale, Diablo Lake and Ross Lake, but by the time we exited the car at the trailhead, the air was clear. Fall foliage is peaking right now with reds, oranges, yellows, bright greens and golds shining through along with our regular dark greens. The rockcress(?) was especially gorgeous. Trail in great shape, no bugs, perfect time to go!

Arrived at the trailhead at 10:30AM on Friday. All parking spots were full but plenty of space on the sides of the road leading to the parking lot. Most larches were in the yellowish-greenish stage, though we saw some that were vibrant yellow at the top! Apple Watch logged 10.5 miles and 4 h and 15 min.

This trail is one of my new favorites!! We left Seattle at 7 a.m. Friday morning and arrived just after 10. There were already about 20 cars in the lot, but at least one person said they were actually going to Heather Maple Pass across the road. 

We drove through a lot of wildfire smoke near diablo lake, but it cleared up by the trailhead. We had blue skies and warm weather!

The trail is easy to follow, and the fall colors start popping around mile 3. The larches are starting to turn, but a lot are still green. 

Cutthroat pass was a nice spot for lunch, and then we continued north along the PCT. We had only seen about 5 other parties and after this point we only saw 2 more. 

What I think is the most beautiful spot of the whole hike is right around Granite Pass. As you switchback gently, you get different mountain ranges on each side, with lots of larches and bright red blueberry leaves in the foreground! 

We opted to set up our tents along the PCT at the turnout for Snow Lakes. We were the only ones there, too! We then hiked up to Lower and Upper snowy lakes. There were only 2 parties up there, so plenty of campsites. We saw several grouse, heard lots of pika, and found bear scat. But we never saw a bear.

The hike out on Saturday meant we passed a steady stream of backpackers heading to the lakes. After cutthroat pass, the trail was packed and we had to step off trail every 30 steps or so to let uphill hikers by. 

Back at the trailhead, the parking lot and at least a mile of the main highway were lined with cars! Going on a Friday was the best decision we made!

I lost a zip-off pant leg on the trail today. Please respond if found.