One of the hikes suggested to us by both Kevin and the North Cascades park rangers was a trail running through Rainy Pass in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. Given that the trailhead parking lot was jam-packed and overflowing by 9:30am, we knew that we were onto something special.
Over the course of the next five hours, we hiked the Heather-Maple Pass Loop for 7+ miles, climbing 2,020’ in elevation and passing from marshy lakefront to rocky scree to snow-drenched rim and back down through subalpine forest. It was exhausting, exhilarating, and one of our favorite hikes to date (a truly notable distinction, considering our last two months).
The trail begins by approaching Lake Ann — which the Washington Trail Association wonderfully describes as “a jewel cradled in a talus bowl, a glacial cirque created in eons past.”
From the lake, the trail climbs Heather Pass to Maple Pass and follows a rocky rim with unbelievable views in all directions, including of the edges of North Cascades National Park and surrounding Corteo, Frisco, Goode, and Black Peak mountains.
Having traversed the rim, the trail drops dramatically down a set of wide switchbacks to a steep forest scramble, with sheer ledges peering down over the snow-rimmed shores of Rainy Lake.
Along the way, we marveled at the cerulean waters, brilliant robin’s egg blue sky, and wildflower confetti spray of yellow, violet, fiery red, and milky white blooms. Everything felt verdant and vibrant, though that might have been our brains shocked back into altitude, gasping for air and grappling to take in the beauty around us.
We also saw wide pockets of watermelon snow (a term and phenomenon deriving from a red-hued algae that lives on alpine snow-mass), scurrying chipmunks, and a particularly vigilant marmot who shrieked at us as the trail passed its burrow.
By the time we completed the hike and descended to the trailhead, our energy was flagging and our knees, quads, and hip flexors were burning. Trying to energize myself through the last downhill slog, I had taken to pacing my steps with a motivational chant in my head: “let’s pro-secc-GO,” focusing on the bottle of prosecco that we had found at a local mercantile the day before and stashed in the fridge.
We did in fact pop that bottle of bubbly when we made it back to camp, and toasted another trail well-hiked and a life very well lived.
Gorgeous photos!!