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Category Archives: hike

Maple Pass Hike

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!

Blue Lake This Week

It seems crazy to have two posts in a row about hiking to Blue Lake. And what if I said that I’d been there another time in between these two hikes? Getting to the Blue Lake trailhead is an easy drive, all on pavement and the trail is not too long – less than three miles – to a superb destination. It’s pretty heavily used but if you time it right, it is a sweet spot.

Highway 20 to the west of us had been closed due to a wildfire at Newhalem in the North Cascades National Park. That meant that most of the traffic across Rainy and Washington Passes was non-existent! Ken wanted to go this weekend and even though I’d already been there twice in the last two weeks, it seemed like a good idea. Weather had moderated and our lives were returning to normal as the wildfires burning all around us were becoming contained. The highway opened while we were hiking.

It seemed too chilly to have her in the water very much. She was disappointed.
Stuff grows out of rocks
More stuff growing out of a rock
Stuff grows out of old wood
What is she saying to me?
Chipmunks on her mind
Smaller larches are already changing color
Fall
I like this rock
Last flowers
Willow gall
Fireweed
Fireweed
Two trees had fallen over the trail in this weekend’s heavy wind storm
Baby grouse at the trailhead as I arrived at the parking lot
Grouse – Dusky or Sooty? I think Sooty.

Blue Lake Two Weeks Ago

On a Sunday, two weeks ago Marcy and I decided to take a late afternoon hike to Blue Lake. The parking lot was overflowing with cars but we managed to find a spot at the trailhead. We had timed it so that people were leaving as we were arriving. All the way up, folks were walking down and when we got to the lake, we had the place to ourselves. Sky was ecstatic to jump in the water repeatedly and I was happy she wasn’t bothering anyone with all her commotion. It was a warm day but we were there late enough that the sun dipped behind the rocky crags above us and it cooled off quickly.

It was a nice diversion from all the news about this summer’s wildfires. Just three days later the Twisp River fire broke out and our lives were pushed back into the tumult of evacuations and uncertainty.

Gray Jay otherwise known as camp robber

Tiffany Mountain in July

It seems to be a tradition for me to hike to Tiffany Mountain in July. Earlier this year would have been better for the wildflowers and possible patches of snow but this was the soonest I could get up there. Yesterday MA and I and our pack of dogs made the short steep hike. It was a cool day, thankfully. There is nearly no water along the trail so we had to carry our own water and water for four dogs. We did notice early on the hike that three of them went off trail and came back with muddy feet. On the way down we found the well-used mud hole where they’d managed to wet their whistles and cool their toes.

There were quite a few wildflowers and I will put most of those images in another post. The fireweed was outstanding! Heading up the trail MA noticed that Sky had bits of blue powder, like eye shadow on her face. We determined that it must be some sort of pollen and eventually I found it on the fireweed. It looked like the older the blossoms, the more chance that the pollen was blue. It started out orange on the fresher flowers.

Sky found a stick that she was particularly fond of and Quincy soon decided he had to do everything in his power to get it away from her. He’d grab onto to one end and Sky would just stand there and hold her ground while he jerked one way and then another. After a bit, Sky would take off running and he’d lose his grip and take off as fast as he could to catch her. She’d slow down and then he’d grab on again. They had great fun. At one point, Quincy tumbled repeatedly head over heels!

All the dogs were pooped when we returned to the car and three of them had to share the back seat. It was a pile of pooches!

Here is a post from exactly three years ago about the same hike!

That last steep part
Sometimes they were sprawled flat on the ground
Nice views without any smoke columns!
You try to photograph four dogs
Sky photo bomb
Quincy
Trying to photograph that dainty white flower growing out of the rock
Frida
Luna
Stick game
Running with stick
Break time
Quincy with red flowers
It’s easier when they are tired.
Resting in the shade
Dogs and fireweed
Sky with blue fireweed pollen
Roger Lake. I photographed it before the Tripod fire, many years ago. I should find that slide and re-print it.

Lookout Mountain Hike

Last week the dogs and I joined Lindsey and two of her dogs for a hike from her place in Smith Canyon up to Lookout Mountain. Before we left her husband asked if we were going straight up and she said no. That’s a good thing.

She said the whole hike should take about five hours. It is four miles and nearly 3000 feet elevation gain. It took us 5 hours and 45 minutes. I am slow. There is an easier way to get to Lookout Mountain. You can drive most of the way to a trailhead and then walk maybe a mile on a steep trail but we wanted to do the whole thing and I’m glad we did.

Smith Canyon is an oasis of green right now with lots of spring growth. At the bottom, balsamroot is in full bloom. In the canyon, maples and serviceberry and other shrubs are abundant under big pines and douglas fir trees. At the top of the canyon we reached Alder Pass and the road to the trailhead. Lindsey told me that this route is the OLD Twisp Carlton Road, before there was a bridge at Carlton. People would drive up Libby Creek to Smith Canyon and then to Alder Pass and down Alder Creek to get between Carlton and Twisp. What a difference from today’s Twisp Carlton Road that follows the meandering Methow River.

We walked about a mile on the dirt road to the trailhead and then the last stretch to the mountain top. It was a rewarding hike with great views of much of the Methow Valley. It would have been an interesting spot to watch last summer’s fires unfold. Unfortunately the sky was a hazy white that only got worse with a prescribed burn near Mazama.

Lots of Lewisia including this columbiana not yet blooming
Sedum sp?
Imagine the tales this snag could tell.
Winthrop is just to the left of this image. The drainage on the left is the Chewuch River.
Snow-covered Tiffany Mountain in the distance – a favorite summer hike.
The reddish colored forests and hills in the background burned last summer.
Twisp on the Methow River
Laurie’s house
You’re taking my picture again?
Mavi, the yellow dog, is 14 years old!
All four dogs in one image.
The Alder Creek Mine
We saw two game cameras. The Lookout wolf pack used to roam this country. I wonder where they’ve gone or if there are any left?
Maple
This view of Lookout Mountain is from the hill above our house. Lookout is the high spot in the middle and Alder Pass is the low spot to its left. We walked up from the other side of the pass.