North Cascades | Blissfulbritt

I have lived in Washington for 32.5 of my 35 years of life, but it wasn’t until this year that I finally saw the golden hue of the larches. It’s well known amongst the outdoor community that these trees are sacred, and because they only shine bright for a limited time, people flock from all over to find them. One of the best spots to find them in Washington is in the North Cascades.

There are a few trails up north best known for larches, and this year my pal Caitlin and I knew we had to make the trip to see them. The North Cascades are a minimum of 3.5 – 4hrs away by car, so this had to be an overnight trip. When I told Duncan the plan he wanted to come too, so the three of us found a dog friendly place to sleep (Caitlin brought her pup), and made the plans.

The drive there was beautiful, and we stopped along the way to see Diablo Lake, a popular overlook on the North Cascades Scenic Highway.

We stayed in the town of Mazama, 20 minutes away from the popular hiking area. Likely the most popular trail in the North Cascades is called Maple Pass. People line up for miles along the main road for this hike (we saw the masses driving in), and it’s said that during larch season there are upwards of 2000 people who visit…DAILY.

While I would like to do this trail one day, we opted for another trail that we knew would be less populated. We chose to hike to Cutthroat Pass, a 12 mile climb that meets up with the PCT. After our long drive north we checked into our cozy accommodation, and stopped by the local market for an overpriced dinner.

Caitlin and I ended the day with an evening walk, followed by a few games of UNO.

After a mediocre night of sleep we woke up around 0530 with the plan to be at the trailhead by 0700. The trail was just around the corner from where we stayed, and we arrived to find the parking lot mostly empty. It was a frigid 33 or 34 degrees and I worried I would regret wearing shorts, but there was no turning back now. “Be bold, start cold” is a motto I live by through the end of October.

The first two miles of this trail are relatively flat, and lead you to Cutthroat Lake. We stopped here for a quick breakfast break, and then continued on. The first half of this trail was so/so. Nothing to write home about, but I knew there had to be expansive views eventually. The climb was gradual, and no one ever felt like they were overly fatigued. Eventually the forested canopy opened up and the colors started to change.

The sun came out, giving us one last bluebird hike before the autumn rains.

*Cutthroat Pass is the knob in the middle of the photo.*

When we finally found the larches it was like finding the golden ticket in a Wonka bar. The recent trail reports mentioned that the trees were not at peak color, but none of us had any complaints about the colors we saw. We ooed and aaed at the beautiful surrounding view, and when we made it to the pass we spent a long while enjoying the massive mountains that engulfed us.

Caitlin and I had a summer full of hiking, and we both decided this would be somewhat of a final hoorah before slowing down for the season. Neither of us plan to stop hiking all together, but the weekly or bimonthly planned hikes are on pause until next season. Last October we ended our hiking season with a trip to the North Cascades as well, and this is certainly a tradition I plan to keep.

Our hike back down was even more beautiful as the lighting changed with the midday sun, illuminating the yellow trees brighter than before. We saw some people as we came down (including a handful of bikers), but overall our choice for a less populated hike was a success. We made it back to the car 6.5 hours later, and drove the 4.5ish hours back home.

These further hikes make for long days, but the reward is always worth it.

And just like that, hiking season (for me) has come to a close. As I said before, I still plan to hike sporadically throughout the fall and winter, but I plan to transition back into running for these colder months. It’s been two weeks since we embarked on this adventure, and the weather has taken a turn. I’m ready to put some cookies in the oven, socks on my toes, and sip coffee with a good book.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Q: If you live somewhere with four seasons, what is your favorite thing about autumn?

It’s the second week of December, and in Washington the rain is heavy, and the clouds are dark. I don’t mind this weather (yet), but I do find myself reminiscing on the brightness of fall. Two months ago my friend Caitlin and I went for one final big hike, and today I am going to share that story. It’s not often I see a hike that is four hours away and wrangle someone into coming with me, but per usual Caitlin is my go to gal – up for any adventure.

Our original plan was to do this hike (driving included) in one day. We would get up before the birds, drive the long haul to the North Cascades, hike 11-12 miles, and drive home. We would be tired, but we could do it, right? This trail is one of, if not THE most popular trail in the North Cascades meaning we had to ensure getting to the trail early, or we risked having to park on the already too tiny gravel road. In order to ensure we had a parking spot we decided to find a cheap Air B&B and drive up the night before.

We found Lolita, a 1979 Airstream for a whopping $70 a night.

Lolita was cozy, but the bed was rock hard and I slept maybe a total of 3 hours that night. We woke up around 0500, and headed straight for the trail head. Thankfully I had enough caffeine and adrenaline to get me going, and I was stoked to only be driving two hours instead of four. We arrived at the trail head around 0700 with just enough time to snag one of the remaining parking spots.

The lot was filling up fast, but thankfully for the majority of our hike we didn’t run into too many people.

This hike is popular because there are two main options: hike the Cascade Pass Trail which is a moderate 7 mile round trip hike to a beautiful overlook, or continue on to the Sahale Arm which is an additional 5 miles round trip (plus about 2000 feet more elevation.) I would say half of the people who come to this trail stop at the Cascade Pass. The views to Cascade Pass are beautiful on their own, but I cannot imagine coming all this way and not continuing on to the Sahale Arm.

Caitlin and I specifically saved this hike for the first week of October because it is well known for having amazing fall colors. We could not have gone on a better day, the temperature was perfect, the sun was bright, and the colors were intense. If we had waited just one more week we would have been hit with snow.

We arrived at Cascade Pass just under two hours after we started. This is when the wind started to pick up, and it only got stronger the higher we got. I was continually taking my jacket off and putting my jacket on in an attempt to combat the heat from climbing and the chill from the wind. We took our time to stop and savor the views along the way, all the while playing leap from with one woman who was wearing the same jacket as me, but in a different color.

We savored the view of the above lake both on the way up and on the way down. This lake would be our focal point for the majority of the second half of the hike. At one point I even saw myself rolling down the hill, falling into the lake. More on that later. Overall I felt great on this hike, physically I had energy, and mentally I was stoked. We were having fun and the landscape could not have been more beautiful.

Until…

I eventually reached a point where each step felt like I had bricks tied to the bottom of my feet. My lungs felt like someone was sitting on them, and the air around me felt tight. I often struggle accepting when things are physically challenging for me, so I was getting frustrated by the fact that Caitlin seemed unfazed while I was having a hard time.

Turns out we were nearing 7000 feet of elevation, explaining why I was struggling with air.

Ultimately it shouldn’t matter, but I was comforted by this justification for my breathing. As we continued on we weren’t sure of where the end was. We just kept putting one foot in front of the other, fighting the wind, and admiring the brave souls who camped overnight. I cannot imagine sleeping with that kind of wind all night. We finally came to the end of the obvious trail, and met the portion of trail that was predominately boulders. This was a “choose your own path” type of trail, and when a pair of men passed us to the right, we chose to follow them.

Mistakes were made.

While Caitlin billy goated her way after them, I began crawling as the “trail” became tighter and the rocks became smaller and more slippery. We were on an edge that made every single hair on my body stand up as I shook with each crawl. I am a dramatic child when it comes to trail edges, and I was starting to struggle. Caitlin sensed my struggle, and was also convinced we took the wrong side. She didn’t have to tell me twice about finding an alternative route, but before we turned around she snapped the above photo of me while I was trying to find my footing.

I almost look like I know what I am doing. Thankfully I did not in fact roll down the hill into the lake.

We found a far better path, but my adrenaline was still high. We were both exhausted and unsure if we wanted to continue the final 0.3 miles to the “summit.” We had made it to the main view point, we were moving slow with the altitude and fatigue, and I was a bit shook by the trail edge. We sat at our chosen end spot for 20 minutes, eating snacks, before deciding we were too damn close to stop there. We were going to stop at the proper summit even if it took us an hour.

Turns out it only took us an additional 10 minutes or so. This is a reminder that our brains often tell us something is harder than it really is.

The final push brought us over a ridge that allowed us to see what most people come here for – the Sahale Glacier. We couldn’t see the glacier from our original stopping point, and while I had no desire to walk onto the glacier, seeing it was worth the extra trudge. We clocked in around 12 miles with 4000 feet of elevation when we made it back down, and the entire hike took us around 8 hours. This was by far the best hike I have done in a while, and I am so jazzed Caitlin and I made it happen.

*Windy elation after coming back down from the circled location.*

The drive out was just as much of an adventure as the drive in because people had parked on both sides of a tiny road. We knew this was happening ahead of time thanks to multiple trail reports, all the more reason we wanted to arrive early. I cannot justify parking like an asshole, and it was sketchy trying to squeeze between two cars. It felt like driving on a back road somewhere in the UK.

Our four hour drive home turned into five or six thanks to Seattle traffic, but Caitlin and I were riding the high of our hike the entire drive back. It doesn’t take much to make me a happy camper. A quick overnight trip for a beautiful hike is almost all it takes to reset my factory settings when I am feeling off. This was my first hike in the North Cascades, and I can assure you it will not be my last.

Q: Anyone else reminiscing on fall? It’s my favorite season, but I do try to savor each season for what it brings.