Somehow I have a feeling this is only the first of a massive wave of very happy reports coming in to this website... If you weren't out at some point this weekend, FOR SHAME!! As usual, I arrived at the trailhead (Rainy Pass) very early in the morning and got a couple hours sleep in my car before heading out. It was pretty chilly when I stepped out of my car and started up a little before sunrise. Ice was encountered on the trail after about a mile or so. Most of the golden larches are in their prime now, and will stay that way at least through next weekend, as long as we don't have some massive windstorm or something. Cuttthroat Pass is very sublime right now, despite the name, although it was still quite cold when I got there in the morning on Friday. It should be mentioned that this part of the hike is nicer in the evening light overall when the sun isn't directly above the Silverstar/Kangaroo/Liberty Bell area. The traverse from Cutthroat to the drop to Granite Pass is very nice, staying high and intermittantly through larch stands and, just above Granite Pass is a fantastic view of Tower Mountain and Golden Horn. For the few miles after Granite Pass, the trail drops just enough to be in the east side scrubby fir forest but, because of the impeccable maintinence of the PCT, this, and in fact the entire hike, goes quite quickly. Eventually, you will come to the unsigned junction with the unmaintained Snowy Lakes trail veering off to the right. This junction comes right at a prominent horse camp, complete with a very bent hitching post. The Snowy Lakes trail is steep but short and one will soon find themselves standing at the very pretty Lower Snowy Lake. The upper lake is very close by but, if you will be spending a Saturday night in the area, I might recommend camping at the lower lake to ensure more privacy. There were five groups at the upper lake on Friday night and many more headed there for Saturday night. The area is very much worth it though, even if it is crowded. After reaching my campsite, I decided to rush up Golden Horn in the evening, thinking that I would also give Mt. Hardy a try in the morning. For the most part, the Horn is easy. There isn't really a followable trail for the most part so just make your way up being sensative to meadows especially in the lake basin. From this direction, the peak is primarily composed of a large, low angle scree/boulder field that gives it it's ""golden"" name. For the ascent, it is best to stay just to the right of this area in some light vegetation that stabilizes the slopes and leads right up to the obvious ridge (pick your line from the lakes, not terribly obvious once you're there). Once on the ridge, take a left and make your way towards the increasingly intimidating summit block. As that block is neared, the way gets more scrambly, but a faint tread appears. The way from here is harder, but still not as bad as it would appear. Next one must traverse around the left hand side of the summit block. Fairly soon you will see an obvious weakness with faint tread leading up steep talus (class 2). This will lead you to a notch where a right turn will lead up easy class 2 solid rock to reach the lower summit of the mountain. All well and good but, not the summit. The true summit still looks completely impossible, but a scramble (class 2-3) around it to the left again leads to another weakness. There are actually two summits of very nearly equal height. The one on the right is inaccessable. The way that I reached the one on the left was to scramble around on it's left and make a difficult but almost unexposed move (low class 5) to just below the summit. I actually didn't stand on top because the last move is a featureless slab ~6ft tall. So I literally peered onto the summit from my tippy toes... Another way that looked promising would have been to scramble through the very narrow slot between the two true summits and have at it from the other side. Didn't try that though because it was getting late. Despite the class 5 move, I would still definetely rate this as a scramble. Due to the lack of exposure, it FELT much easier than supposedly easier scrambles on Sahale, Black, Mt. Si, etc. Anyway, making it back to the lakes just before sunset, I was treated to quite a show. Icredible weather... After the freakishly long night that comes with the territory this time of year, I woke up to another good show, this time on the impressive buttresses of Mt. Hardy right outside my window. After putting on a pack though, my hopes of climbing that (from the other side) were put to rest as my right ankle and left knee had taken a beating on the hurried scramble on Friday. I contented myself to hiking out slowly with long breaks at the horse camp, above Granite Pass, and at Cutthroat Pass. Oh well, I'll be back. I should mention that Saturday was very warm. There was no frost anywhere when I got up and I was in a T-shirt before leaving camp. I even have a significant sunburn right now. I was informed by other hikers that it was frigid at the trailhead in early morning and they encountered lots of ice even low down on highway 20. Inversion layer? GO NOW!!!

I drove a long time to get here...and it was worth every minute. my first time to see the golden larch. I really loved this area of the Cascades. I will return. The colors were phenomenal! I took a picture of a future backpacking campsite. one thing to check. they were doing major construction on Hwy 20....sat a 45 minutes waiting to pass by. check it out.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2004 - PCT CUTTHROAT PASS, GRANITE PASS Ah, the time of the year to seek out photography opportunities in the crisp fall high country where the alpine larch is turning golden yellow in color! I was thinking that I'd be a week too early to maximize peak color in the trees, but a week from now isn't likely to be such clear weather. So I opted to at least enjoy something instead of being socked in clouds or even rain/snow. For many years I have wanted to discover how stunning the scenery and larch trees were in the Cutthroat Pass area along the PCT north of Hwy 20, so finally I had the chance for the long day I needed to see what was out there. Having prepared well ahead I pulled out of the driveway at 3:27am. Great! I was already ahead of schedule since I was hoping to leave at 3:30am!! I quickly used up the bonus time poking my way through a stressful 2.5 hours of driving in fog at night. The cruddy low clouds and fog that have plagued the west side of the Cascades didn't break up even out by Darrington and I was stuck in it until finally reaching Nehalem where it broke to reveal the stars of a clear mountain day. How happy I was to finally see the fog gone! I pulled up to Rainy Pass at 4855' and off Hwy 20 to the PCT parking lot and quickly got cooled off preparing for the trek in 34 degrees of early morning air! Brrrr! It's been awhile since I've been out in temperatures quite that cool. Heading north up the PCT at 7:10am I made fairly quick time of the first three miles of forested trail. The crossing over Porcupine Creek was pretty on what appears to be a new foot log. It would still be pretty intimidating in spring when the water was roaring far below you to cross! As has been the case in most areas the forest floor was a carpet of mushroom varieties that exceeds what I recall ever seeing in past years. Douglas squirrels were chatting and running all over the place...obviously a busy time for them. I sure thought I saw a quick flash of a pine marten in one location, or a fisher, but it was gone before I could verify my thoughts fully. Too bad! The opening in the forest revealed the larches of the high elevation that I'd soon see. And like magic as soon as I reached 6000' elevation larch trees started to show up in the thinning forest. It is truly amazing to me how it appears that upon the creation of the mountain ecosystems God got out a sharpie pen, drew a line at 6000', and then declared, ""Thy Shall Only Grow Well Above This Line""! The last mile to Cutthroat Pass took me at least an hour as I crawled up the way to the pass photographing the scenery. Wow! The morning light over the Porcupine Creek valley was stunning and highlighted the mountains south around Maple Pass and Heather Pass areas so nicely. This upper area before the pass has areas thick with larch trees 6-12' tall--I've never seen so many in such tight arrangements before! These lower elevation trees were only in the middle of changing full golden but the large mature trees were in their prime. Once off trail photographing scenes a huge deer came up out of the valley, crossed over Cutthroat Pass, and descended down into the forest toward Cutthroat Lake far below. Stunning scene in the early light still at 9:00am! Once up at the pass the scenery just was stunning for the next 4-5 hours. The way from Cutthroat Pass to Granite Pass and all side-scrambles up off the PCT to the ridge for wider views was in terrain where virtually all the larch trees ""were done cooking"" and fully golden yellow! More elevation but more importantly less sunlight in areas really showed here in how many were at their prime. The photography options were endless, raptors were circling in updrafts by the ridge, and as I approached and went up above Granite Pass the views were amazing. Tower Mountain, Golden Horn, The Needles, the PCT heading up to Methow Pass...it was one of the grandest lunch breaks I've ever had. Silver Star Mountain to the east was set off so well with foreground areas of golden larches. Blue crisp sky and warm sun in the 60s made this a perfect day---I was so glad I got out before the weather turned sour maybe for good up there! Finally after a very long stop atop the ridge above the PCT for food and photography I packed up for the long trek back out before it got dark. The two miles or so back to Cutthroat Pass went by just as pleasantly as they did going in and the photography was just as rewarding now that the light was at a completely different angle. Areas that looked unfit for photos heading in were really getting me jazzed for more photography on the route back out. Alas, I finally bid farewell to the high country and began the last 5-mile slog back out to Hwy 20. As my friend told me a day earlier about his experience up there…it almost brought tears to the eyes having to leave such a magnificent region of our wildlands. I swore someone re-routed the PCT while I was enjoying myself for so long up in there. The hike out surely was 105 miles and not just the 5 that I hiked in. My feet were tired from so much romping around aside from just the 7 miles of the PCT I hiked and the extra weight I packed on top of the already heavy daypack I utilize as a solo hiker and photographer. I pulled off Hwy 20 just after leaving the trailhead, scrambled down into Porcupine Creek, and sat on a rock for 5 minutes with my feet submerged under 18” of cold water rushing by! Oh man, now my day really WAS perfect. With numb feet and a cooled off human-boiler I now enjoyed the 3.5 hours back home. What a day…utilizing almost every minute of daylight having started 30 minutes after daylight and ended back 15 minutes before darkness…and topping it off with a huge peanut butter milkshake in Marblemount for the drive home! Alan L. Bauer 09/28/2004

PCT from Rainy Pass to Cutthroat Pass and Granite Pass (about a mile beyond Cutthroat) are in great shape and looking beautiful with fall colors all around once you start to gently elevate out of the first river valley. Granite Pass offers excellent views to menacing Tower Mtn and the Golden Horn. On a bright and beautiful Sunday, we saw only about 12 people (and some llamas). Bring film!

It is a long drive from Seattle. On top, expect delays from 30-45 minutes between Newhalem and Diablo due to rockslide work. We hiked from Rainy Pass on the PCT to Cutthroat Pass. Trail well maintained. A pleasant 2000 feet climb over 5 miles. At the Pass there is still a sign (I was told from last year)saying that the PCT from here on closed due to forest fires.Impressive views!