Yellow Pages
Easy Pass, an alpine hike that belies its name, is the perfect late-season hike.
It offers a premium payoff for those willing to put forth the effort. The prize for the steady climb is a stunning panorama of North Cascades peaks, glaciers, green valleys and golden larch trees. The pass elevation is about 6,500 feet.
A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park at the trailhead. If you lack one, there are envelopes and a drop box to pay the $5 daily parking fee.
Location: About 30 miles east of Newhalem
Distance: 7.2 miles
Destination: Easy Pass
Difficulty: Moderate to strenuous
Elevation gain: 2,800 feet
Getting there: East on Highway 20. Drive through Newhalem and North Cascades National Park. The trailhead is in the Okanogan National Forest, near milepost 151 on Highway 20.
The trek: Not long after starting up the trail, come to a single-log bridge with cable handrails spanning Granite Creek.
After the bridge, the trail cruises for a couple of miles through fir and hemlock trees, with some undergrowth housing scampering squirrels and chipmunks.
The fall forest floor sprouts numerous types of mushrooms, enough to keep any mycologist happy.
The trail is dry, due to the rather rainless summer. The exception being the occasional intersection with snow-fed creeks and waterways. But it’s nothing a decent pair of trail shoes and wool socks can’t handle.
Leaving the forest, the trail gradually opens up as the trees dwindle in size. Gold-colored mountain ash with bright red berries begin to dominate the landscape. Soon these give way to lowbush blueberries.
The berries this time of year are ripe for picking. The tart berries have a fresh frozen-then thawed texture thanks to sub-freezing nightime temperatures. This is a good spot along the trail to survey the area for berry-loving black bears.
The gradual climb among greenery now becomes a strenuous switchback-laden trek out in the open.
But the majesty of surrounding peaks to the left and to the right takes some of the sting out of the effort.
Looking up at the saddle between the two peaks, one can see other hikers far above as the pass comes into view.
Soft forest floor has now given way to a trail of crumbled rock.
Though steep, the trail is not threatening. Using hiking poles is advisable, and travel in the early spring requires an ice ax to safely traverse snow fields.
The pass offers majestic views of the rugged peaks of the North Cascades.
To the southwest sits Fisher Peak at 8,060 feet while Black Peak lies partially obscured at 8,970 feet. To the right of Fisher Peak is Mount Arriva at an elevation of 8,215 feet.
To the west, the glaciated slope of 9,087-foot Mount Logan looms above the Fisher Creek Basin.
Easy Pass
Last Updated: October 01, 2009 - 07:50 AM
Scott Terrell
Hikers relax at Easy Pass with Mount Logan in the background.
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