★ Seasonal
Hike Among Golden Larches
Worth making time for
Washington's high country turns gold for about two weeks each October. This week is the peak of it, under crisp sunny skies that make the high country hard to resist.
The larch is the Pacific Northwest's contrarian conifer. It grows needles like any evergreen, then turns them gold and drops them every fall. The show is spectacular and ruthlessly short. At any given elevation the peak lasts roughly ten to fourteen days, and a single October storm can strip the needles in an afternoon. This week the alpine basins are at their best, and the lower western larch belt will glow into mid October. Here are six trails where the gold is on right now, ordered from the easiest walk to the hardest day. A Northwest Forest Pass is required at all six trailheads.
Easy
Lake Ann The shortest walk to the gold. From the Rainy Pass trailhead on Highway 20, it is 3.4 miles round trip and 700 feet of gain through a glacial valley to a small lake currently ringed with golden larches. It shares its trailhead with the famous Maple Pass loop and makes a fine fallback when that lot overflows. Note that this is the Rainy Pass Lake Ann, not the longer trail of the same name near Mount Baker.
Blue Lake The friendliest of the classic larch hikes. It is 4.4 miles round trip with 1,050 feet of gain, starting off Highway 20 between mileposts 161 and 162, east of Washington Pass. The trail climbs gently through meadow and forest to an alpine lake ringed with subalpine larch, with Cutthroat Peak and Whistler Mountain behind it. The trees are golden now. The lot holds only about twenty cars, so arrive before seven on weekends or come on a weekday.
Moderate
Heather Maple Pass Loop The signature larch hike of the Cascades. The 7.2 mile loop with 2,020 feet of gain leaves from Rainy Pass and traverses a ridgeline above Lake Ann, with larches below, beside, and reflected in the tarns. An October 5 trail report called this week the best time to see the whole valley turn gold. On October weekends the lot fills by six in the morning, so start in the dark or go midweek.
Cutthroat Pass Ten miles round trip and about 2,000 feet of gain on the Pacific Crest Trail, starting across Highway 20 from Maple Pass at Rainy Pass. The grade is steady and manageable, climbing through larch groves to a high pass with amphitheater views deep into the Cascades. The trees are golden along most of the route right now. One caution. The forecast turns wet and cold on October 9, so hike it before the storm arrives.
Hard
Colchuck Lake The gateway to the Enchantments. Eight miles round trip and 2,280 feet of gain from the Stuart Lake trailhead off Icicle Creek Road near Leavenworth, climbing to an alpine lake under granite walls with subalpine larch at peak color on the upper slopes. Day hikers complete a free self issue wilderness permit at the trailhead. Overnight stays require a lottery permit, and this year's advance lottery has closed.
Ingalls Lake The hardest day on this list and one of the great ones. Nine miles round trip and 2,500 feet of gain from the Esmeralda trailhead at the end of Forest Road 9737, reached via Teanaway Road from I 90. The trail climbs through old burn zones to Ingalls Pass, then drops to a turquoise lake beneath Mount Stuart, with alpine larch crowding the basin and mountain goats on the talus. The September fire closure was lifted on September 18 and the trail is open. On peak weekends cars line the road a mile from the trailhead, so arrive at first light.
The Enchantments Beyond these six lies the true heaven of golden larches. The Enchantment Traverse runs about eighteen miles through the core of the range, past Prusik Peak and a chain of alpine lakes, with larches ablaze on every slope. It is a very strenuous undertaking, typically done as a dawn to dark through hike with a car shuttle or spread across several days, and overnight permits are among the hardest to win in Washington. Most hikers will find all the gold they need on the six trails above. Those who complete the traverse in October see the larches at their most sublime.
The gold lasts about two weeks at each elevation, and a storm can end it in an afternoon. Go this week, or wait a year.
Would you want to experience any of these someday?
