July
“One day I will find the right words, and they all will be simple.” – Jack Kerouac
Third time’s the charm, right? First two tries I ran into smoke and wildfires in the North Cascades. This time, I had a stretch of great weather and mostly clear skies. When you travel on a whim —or chase the weather— it’s challenging to find a place to camp. And as I re-explore an area, I’m looking for new trails and new access points.
Open Garage
This time I found a few spots along Route 20 near Winthrop, WA not far from the official North Cascades National Park entrance. There were plenty of nearby hikes that offered alpine routes, big views of peaks, and even some glaciers.
Maple Pass Trail (Loop) — 6.5–7.2 mi loop, 2,100 ft gain
Short trail, but big bang for the buck—views for days!
Blue Lake Trail — 4.5 mi round-trip, 1,050 ft gain
Easy Pass Trail — 7.3 mi round-trip, 2,900 ft gain
Grasshopper Pass Trail — 10 mi round-trip, 1,500 ft gain
The road in was one of those roads you might want to pick an early or later drive due to the limited safe passing pullovers. The term pullovers is used sparingly. I did find a high camp to park which saved a bunch of time due to the slow speed you need to take getting up the road.
I met some nice people out on the trails. When I was out hiking Grasshopper Pass, I ran into a nice guy who goes by the trail name “Hike ’n Bike.” He had come back to finish his final leg of the PCT. Nice guy, nice chat. Congrats on the finish!
“Hike ‘N Bike” closing in on his Pacific Crest Trail finish. I met him at the apex of this out and back trail. We had a great chat along the way back to the van. I gave him a ride to the hiker hostel in Mazama. Nice guy! Congrats to your PCT hike completion!
Cutthroat Pass via Pacific Crest Trail — 9.8 mi round-trip, 2,007 ft gain
Hike ‘N Bike recommended this one. Glad I took him up on it!
I also met some nice folks from New England on the Cutthroat Trail as well as a solo hiker section hiking the PCT. Since then, I’ve started taking notes to remember people when I mention them in the blog or have a photo of them on the trail.
Time to Book
I got a lot of photo work done at the Winthrop Library on my rest days. The day before I left a thunderstorm rolled through and a lightning strike hit close by. Not long after, I heard fire trucks heading out. It may have been the beginning of the Studhorse Fire—which is now out— but was just on the other side of Route 20. I try to keep up on both fire maps and weather reports—because out here, conditions can turn fast.