When Shannon and I decided to take a nice Monday furlough day and go for a hike, we were in search of fall color and found it at Maple Pass Loop hike. Shannon had beta from friends that there was a fair amount of snow at the top so we would be wise to take the steep, slippery side up and the gentle side back down. We also brought slip-on traction devices for our boots.
Naturally we were so excited about getting going that once at the trail head we didn't bother to look at the map to see where the junction for the steep side up to Maple Pass was located. So we hiked all the way up to the junction to Lake Ann before we realized that we were not hiking our planned route. Shannon's map was so old that it didn't have the actual loop trail. Mine did and the junction was way down at the beginning of the trail head.
Back down we went. In our defense (there's always a defense) someone had posted a handwritten sign at the beginning of the trail pointing to the right-hand side of the junction as the way to Maple Pass. It is a way, but not the way we wanted to go.
The way we wanted to go actually followed a paved trail to Rainy Lake, which then forked uphill just before the lake. The lower part of the trail, which is typical for the Cascades, is fairly steep then levels out somewhat up higher. Before it leveled out we reached the snowline and donned our traction devices. The trail was quite slippery from weekend tramping down of the snow and it wasn't really warming up enough to melt and become soft with easier traction.
The views were stunning, the snow got deeper but the path was well defined. Near the pass we flushed a ptarmigan, which was well camouflaged in the snow. Maple Pass at 6600' was warm enough in spite of at least a foot of snow that we could eat our lunches and stay warm.
Then down we went, glad to have traction on our feet because the steep parts of the down trail were really quite slippery. The trail loops down to Heather Pass, which is the junction of the trail that leads to climbers' paths to Corteo Peak (summited in 2006) and Black Peak (summited in 2009). And down we went to below the snowline and back out.
Our total time, even with the bonus miles, was about 5 1/2 hours, including one long-ish break to enjoy the view and have a snack and a liesurely lunch. Our total mileage was probably 10 or so, depending on how far the Lake Ann junction is above the trailhead.
Here are the rest of the pictures.
Corinna, your photos are absolutely spectacular. Sounds like it was hard work with the backtrack, but certainly worth the effort. And a dog went along, too.