The Maple Pass/Heather Pass loop hike may be one of the best, easily accessible fall hikes in the North Cascades. The fall foliage colors are outstanding. Combined with endless blue skies and surrounding mountain peaks and throw in a couple of brilliant tarns and it is sure to take your breath away.
My friend Cindy drove 2 1/2 hours to join me and all along the hike she kept saying – look at that, isn’t that just the prettiest sight. She was right. We did this seven-mile loop in a clockwise direction. This took us up the steepest part and down the more gradual sloping trail. We find that this is better for our feet, ankles and knees. Most other hikers went the other direction. We heard lots of pikas and got good looks at one of them. At the top of the ridge, a dark falcon went whizzing by us at top speed. It was so close we could almost feel the wing beats.
This is a lot of images. You should see what I left out!
Mountain ash
Climbing
Oh, it’s SO beautiful!
Lake Ann, one of two small mountain tarns we saw along the way
Red huckleberry foliage along the trail.
Ice crystals that emerge from the ground on cold nights.
Western larch needles. Larch is the only conifer I know that loses its needles every year.
Views, views, and more views.
See the tiny pika on the rock? Pika is the smallest member of the rabbit family. They live in talus fields like this and gather dry grasses, making little hay piles under the rocks, to eat in the winter.
You can see the downhill part of the trail above Lake Ann
The last stretch to the top
We walked up all those switchbacks.
Glacier Peak in the distance
Like being on top of the world!
Perfect lunch time view
And it was National Black Dog Day!
Already going downhill. The elevation slips away quickly on the downhill side.
Even Sky seems impressed by the color
The trail up was just on the other side of that ridge.
Last light on the peaks.
Still Smiling!
My Everyday Photos 