Mileage: 20 miles RT
Elevation Gain/Highest: 2010ft/6890ft
Map: Green Trails Washington Pass No 50, Caltopo
My favorite places to stop post hike with friends are 5 B’s Bakery, Bird’s View Brewing Company, The Mazama Store, Methow Valley Cider House, Glover Street Market, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Hike Details:
A backpacking trip to Snowy Lakes Via Pacific Crest Trail and Cutthroat Pass is a great summer backpacking trip but fall brings on the popular golden larches! Most of the route is on the PCT with a short and steep turn .8 miles up into the lakes area with Golden Horn and Tower Mountain towering overhead. Expect company on a nice weekend, go early if you can.
My Hike:
10/3/2015
This was a quick one night backpack trip at the end of the summer season to see the golden larches. The weather was perfect, even if a bit chilly when the sun went down.
We started early, hiked up the Pacific Crest Trail from Rainy Pass to Cutthroat Pass about 4.9 miles in at 6,600ft. Stopping briefly for the views and to chat with some mountain bikers up from the Cutthroat Lake trail that intersects at the pass, we then continued north on the PCT as it drops down to Granite Pass (6270ft) and along the slope under Tower Mountain for 4.3 more miles and a junction for the Snowy Lakes Trail (6230ft). Be warned that a good portion of this section is on a steep slope of scree, not for the faint of heart. There are places to pitch a tent at Granite Pass, too.
There weren’t a lot of other folks hiking in with us, I imagine that most came in the night before. The sign for Snowy Lakes is not well marked, look for a boot path at 9.2 miles in, before you get to Methow Pass. There is a camp down from the trail here you can stop at if you get there late and don’t want to venture up to the lakes until daylight.
We camped at the lower of the lakes to avoid the mob of people above but climbed up to a ridge in between and had dinner with the most amazing views.
We went to bed early if only to stay warm and I got up at dawn to see the sun come up behind Golden Horn. The ground was frosty and it was SO hard to get out of my nice warm sleeping bag.
On the way back, I scrambled up to a high point towards Point 7552 above Granite Pass and looked back at where we had had dinner the night before. The video below shows where I stood. Each video starts where I stood for the other one. The first is from above Snowy Lakes and the second Granite pass. It was fun to see the Pacific Crest Trail and remember when I was here in 2013. I highly recommend a trip to Snowy Lakes Via the Pacific Crest Trail and Cutthroat Pass!
Directions: From Marblemount follow the North Cascades Highway (State Route 20) east for 51 miles to Rainy Pass near milepost 158. Turn left to access the north trailhead. Elevation is 4800 feet.
Click here for more hikes along SR 20.
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