Easy Pass Trail, North Cascades National Park

Easy Pass Trailhead, North Cascades National Park, WA

Trailhead Location: milepost 151, Washington State Route 20;
Hike: 7 miles round trip, 2800 ft elevation gain
The first 2 miles of the hike climbs steadily and the trail meanders through hemlock and Pacific silver fir forests.

Hemlock and Pacific Silver Fir Forest

300 yards from the trailhead, there is a neat footlog to cross the Granite Creek.

Footlog to Cross Granite Creek

Despite it was already middle of summer, there were no one else in this trail that made the hike really special for us since the trail was all to ourselves. I guess, one of the advantages of going to a less crowded National Park is having solitude. There were several people who turned in at the parking lot, but after reading the signs at the trailhead, they turned around and drove away, maybe, Easy Pass was not the trailhead they were looking for, or maybe they were just visiting the park from the road. However, the extreme solitude we found in the trail does not mean this is an uninteresting hike, for many believe the Easy Pass and Fisher Basin area to be one of the most superb places in the North Cascades. The short but steep trail is not really that "easy" as one may presume from the name "Easy Pass". Inside the forest, I saw several variety of fungi growing on the trees' branches and some little creeks that their cascades create little waterfalls. They may not be permanent waterfalls, but were just created from all the melting snow.

Group of Brown Fungi

Small Waterfall

( shot without tripod )

After about 1000 ft climb, the trail becomes snow covered and it was hard for us to determine trail.

Snow Covered Trail At Higher Elevation

Our Foot Marks on the Snow 

There were several creek crossing, that added more fun to the hike.

Crossing Easy Pass Creek
(yeah, we had to cross the creek this way)

After 2 miles, the trail emerges into avalanche paths on the flanks of the ragged ridge, with the all the snow however, it was hard to identify the trail.

The Easy Pass Trail was lost in these snow fields, and an ice axe is advised through early summer.

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