Cedar Falls and Cutthroat Lake in the North Cascades

The trail to Cedar Falls passes through a burn scar leading to a waterfall on Cedar Creek.  The signs at the trailhead identify the brook trout that can be caught in the creek

Fish available

We park and start up along the creek through the burned-out, regrowing forest.

Starting up along the creek

Reaching Cedar Falls, we walk past the two-tier waterfall and along rapids a bit and then back to the main falls to enjoy the rushing water.

Cedar Falls

We return to the trail head and drive down Highway 20 a few more miles to the trailhead for Cutthroat Lake, following Cutthroat Creek to the lake.  The trail continues past the lake up to Cutthroat Pass (several hours later) where it joins the Pacific Crest Trail toward Canada (and Mexico in the other direction, much farther away).  We're only on our way toward the lake today.

Returning from the falls

Trailhead, watch out for mountain goats

We cross Cutthroat Creek and follow the trail along the creek toward the lake. 

View from the trailhead

Crossing Cutthroat Creek

Along the Trail

Views of Cutthroat Pass

As we approach the lake, we find our way blocked by a fast-flowing stream that is precarious to cross and we declare victory and turn back a short ways before the lake.  Another day (or at lower water levels), we might walk across on the logs, but we (and the others on the trail) turn around at this point today.

Stream blocking the path

We return to the trailhead and then to Winthrop to think about dinner.

Heading back

Following the two creeks, reaching the falls (and, almost the lake) makes a great combination for the day.

Hiking Maple Pass and Rainy Lake in the North Cascades

We choose Maple Pass as our first trail to hike on this visit to the North Cascades.  The Maple Pass trail is known for its great views and accessibility:  difficult enough to provide a challenge, but easy enough for most hikers.

At the trailhead, we find a map of the 2,638 mile (4,245 km) long Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (of which this trail is a small portion), stretching from Canada to Mexico, while passing through 24 national forests, 7 national parks, and 33 wilderness areas.  The trail climbs as high as 13,200 feet (4,023 meters) above sea level in the Sierra Mountains and descends to 140 feet (43 meters) at the Columbia River.  Hikers who make it all the way usually start in April and finish in September.

Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail

Today, we'll just explore the small portion of this trail that heads toward Maple Pass and then down to Rainy Lake.  We park at the Rainy Lake/Maple Pass Trailhead and start up.

Trailhead

Starting up

Initial views of the mountains

The path emerges from the trees and gets steeper as we progress further up the mountain.

Trail on the other side of the gulley

Continuing up

Looking down on Rainy Lake

Continuing around the lake

View from high up

On our return to the trailhead, we admire the flowers that are blooming along the trail; we were too focused on heading up to notice them the first time we passed.

Heading back down

Admiring the vegetation

Passing a waterfall

At the trailhead, we follow the more-level, less-rocky path in the other direction toward Rainy Lake (which we've recently looked down on from the Maple Pass Trail) and arrive at the shore of a beautiful lake with incredibly clear water and tall waterfalls flowing into the lake from the surrounding mountains.

Path to Rainy Lake

A sign at the lake tells us that Rainy Lake was formed in a narrow pocket called a cirque that was chipped and carved out over thousands of years by glacial ice.  Water would seek into cracks, freeze, and then "frost wedge" the rock into pieces later carried away by moving water and ice.  At the bottom of the moving glacier, a moraine (earth dam) was pushed up which now holds the lake water in.

Rainy Lake

A great start to our North Cascades visit.