Cascade Pass Trail

Trail was amazing. A black bear and plenty of Pikas were out on this cold and snowy day. There is about 6 inches (and growing) of snow up top near the forks to both Stehekin and Doubtful lake so I stopped there, if you want discontinue make sure your prepared for snow and weather changes. Was definitely worth it before the road closes! Get out and do it! only took me about 4.5 hrs.

Beautiful hike! Not sure I would call it difficult but it was certainly steep with plenty of switchbacks. I think maybe the views helped distract me from the steep trail, but I don't recall being completely wiped out from it. Glaciers top all the mountains and you can see large chunks falling away, and hear the glacial runoff stream down the mountains. Very green the whole way with grassy meadows at the top and sections of beautiful red wildflowers. Stay on the trails here so as not to squash these delicate plants. Plenty of marmots and even some deer. I topped out above Doubtful Lake, taking in the panoramic view. Highly recommended hike for anyone who has hiked steep trails before! Bring plenty of water, food, and good hiking shoes.

We did this trail on a clear, sunny day with moderate temps. After hiking the 36 switchbacks to the pass we continued up the Sahale arm until we could see Doubtful Lake and the glacier above it. We heard from other hikers that a black bear eating berries was visible below the trail but we did not see it. There was a mountain goat and her kid roaming around the pass. The views are spectacular and I couldn't stop myself from taking lots and lots of photos. This was a 'bucket list' hike. 9/14/17

Thursday 9-14-2017: My friend, wife and I hiked to Cascade Pass and Sahale Arm. The weather was sunny and the temperature was pleasant 52 to 75 degrees. The mountains, glaciers, and the lake were beautiful. There were abundant ripe blueberries around Cascade Pass. We also saw chipmunks, squirrels, pikas, a deer, a mother and a baby goat. It was a great hike.

Even with the smoke layer from all the wildfires the hike was still worth it. We saw marmots and a mountain goat with her baby. Flowers were in full bloom too. However, the biting flies were as bad as previous posts state...while my husband didn't react to the bites, I woke up with welts and itchy bites all over me the next day (somehow they got through my shirt, and a ton of bug spray did not deter them). Highly recommend long sleeves and pants, although they'll still try to get up your nose and in your ears! Nature at its best!

Gorgeous destination, directions and difficulty level listed on AllTrails are accurate. We went 3.7 miles to the pass, where there is a nice viewing area and toilet. Took us 3.5 hours to get to the pass and back with brief lunch on the way up and rest at the top, with 2 kids, ages 7 and 11. Most of the trek (35-37 switchbacks) is in the woods with glimpses of the surrounding mountains, until the last mile or so which is a beautiful traverse across rocks, meadows, and a little snow. (On August 1, there were a couple of easy snow traverses, I held my 7-year-old's hand for those.) Only drawback was lots of flies, the biting kind. My 11-year-old was freaking out about it for the first 2.5 miles, and then it got better when we emerged from the woods. On the way up, we had to wait until we got to the rocks to eat lunch since before that we were swarmed by flies every time we stopped. (My 7-year-old was bothered by the flies but didn't freak. He reminded me of the Peanuts character PigPen with all the flies swarming around him!) The flies were not much of a problem on the way down because we were moving much faster. Totally worth the flies in my opinion, but I wish we had brought bug spray! (Assuming that would have helped.)

Snow has receded but near the top you must traverse 3-4 large snow fields. There are well worn tracks and I did it in trail runners but would recommend a hiking pole for stability at minimum.

Snowed in right now and essentially impassable due to heavy avalanche activity at the trail head. Suggest you take an ice axe with you when snow shoeing in.

stunning views

The switchbacks will put you to work, but it's worth it!

Intense number of bugs in the afternoon. Mosquito swarms in the morning. Beautiful views though.