A beautiful autumn hike

I worked my tail off this past weekend, so I took Friday off to do some hiking. My criteria for finding where to go was: a) it had to be a place where there would be few people b) had to have fall colors c) had to be a brand new place I haven't explored.

After pouring over guide books, Summit and I set out for Paddy-go-easy Pass and Sprite Lake near Hyas Lake and Mt. Daniel...on the Cle Elum side of the pass.

The day was dry with sun-breaks, although the fall chill was in the air (43 degrees when I took off). There was not a soul insight, which made it such an amazing trip- we had this gorgeous alpine lake and entire hike to ourselves. I felt like an ancient explorer waiting to find out what was around the next turn and really enjoyed having Summit along for company. The colors were popping and I was treated to some wonderful yellow larch trees as we neared the top of the hike. After 3,000 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles (yowza), the reddish rock, the mountains (called the Cradle), the autumn colors, and the turquoise lake were a great reward. The lake and the high areas are at 6100 feet, so it's only a few days before they are covered in snow. It really was a last look at what will soon be sleeping and inaccessible by the human foot. We've had a spectacular Sept/Oct, but they say on Tuesday the rains are coming- which means mountain snow and perhaps the "unofficial" start of our normal fall in the Northwest. I was happy to squeeze in at least one more beautiful autumn hike!