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Pacific Crest Trail - Cutthroat Pass Trail


October 19th I got up early as usual and stuffed 2 bags with essential hiking gear and lunch. This time of year it usually ends up being a P&J sandwich and lots of snacks and a down jacket. Headed out the door to pick up my hiking buddy for the day. Pulled up into the yard to pick him up....lights were out....door was locked. So I headed downtown to grab a coffee and some sugar loaded breakfast, then back to the house to see if anyone had arose. Waited with the vehicle running in hopes that someone just might notice that there was lights glaring through the windows, couldn't get any movement. So I changed plans from Teanaway, Cle Elum area to Cutthroat Pass. Figured it was closer and I was familiar with the trail enough to be comfortable hiking alone. Only a few cars in the parking lot, mostly ones that had been there all night. Up the quiet, chilly trail, disturbed a chipmunk, who me know that I was invading his space. The trail was pretty much snow free until you broke out of the trees and headed into larch territory. A few places along the trail it was pretty muddy with water standing but fairly good over all. A nice trail cut to the top in the snow, lots of foot traffic. Beautiful day, the Larches were on the down hill side of yellow, starting to turn really orange. I sat at the top of the pass and ate my lunch all by myself, nobody else around. It was about 30 minutes before other hikers started cresting tho top. This is a beautiful trail to hike, lots of Larches on both sides of the pass.
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