We wanted to get in one final backpacking trip before winter fully hit, and tried to time it with the larches. The larches were at the tail end of their life but the snow wasn't too hard to manage. It was a great way to test warm gear though! https://youtu.be/sLMNzVn6m3s

The trail from the parking lot to the split off of Heather-Maple was very easy to follow. The 10,000 people that went through for the larches kept it clear of snow and nice and muddy. At the split, the snow was consistent so we used some traction all the way to Wing Lake.

The boulder field took awhile to maneuver through, we didn't want to punch through any gaps in the rocks. Once at Lewis Lake, the route is very straightforward up to Wing Lake.

There was enough snow at the lake for us to create a tent pad and use deadman anchors to keep the tent down. The wind was pretty rough and the temps were in the teens, but overall it was a really pretty night. The next day we got out just before a bigger snowstorm came in.

Quick report- after the snow last weekend, it’s much harder to get to Lewis/Wing Lakes.

The talus field you cross to get to Lewis Lake is challenging/sketchy now. Whoever broke trail on Monday did not always follow the actual trail (honestly, it would have been near impossible to follow the rock cairns under all the snow), so there are lots of awkward snow covered boulders. If you haven’t done this hike before, this is no joke! It’s about 0.6 miles of talus/boulder field, on a steep slope, covered in snow. 
 
When I did it on Tuesday, no one had yet tried to go up to Wing Lake, so I did my best to break trail along the actual route. It’s steep, but much more straightforward than the talus field to Lewis Lake. Got some nice solitude at wing lake with peak larches, but honestly enjoyed the adventure of it more than the larches. Also, was serenaded by a dipper at Lewis Lake in the way back!

Be safe! This is a trail you might want to ready to turn back from is it gets sketchy. (Mainly putting this emphatic warning because of how many folks come up to Maple pass who aren’t well versed in winter/snow route finding/scrambling- I saw a good number of people turn back from their attempt at Lewis Lake)

[edit: not sure why the pictures are rotated wrong, if anyone knows how to fix it, let me know!]

Long shot, but I lost a small blue osprey backpack at the false summit of Black Peak on Friday. If anyone takes on the weather over the next few days and feels like some extra weight on the way down, I’d send some financial appreciation for its return!

Hoo doggie, this was a big day. Proxie's last trip report from 10/6 sums things up well. I've been scrambling some this summer, but I hit a point on the route up to Black Peak where my comfort level got maxed out and I decided to call it. Got to near the top of the Black Peak gully and just didn't feel comfortable continuing up. I hit around 8,600 or 8,700 ft (about a .2 away from the summit). Alas--but hey, that's also okay! My goal today was Wing Lake, so hitting Black Peak was just extra credit.

TR-wise, the initial part of the Maple Pass trail was good. Wide, well maintained, and not too many people on it at that hour. I started the hike around 7am, but detoured at Ann Lake (very worth it) on my way in. I hit Ann Lake at 7:30, and lingered a little bit to watch the morning light fall across the ridge. Backtracked Ann and kept making my way up toward the Lewis Lake turnoff. I was on the trail to LL by 8:15. Hiked down, traversed a bunch of boulders, and made my way over to Lewis Lake. There are cairns across the boulder field that make it easy to follow in, but for whatever reason I had a hard time tracking them and the trail on the way out. I probably wouldn't recommend this trail to anyone with difficulty balancing etc. 

Lewis Lake was beautiful, larches were popping and in full swing. Didn't linger long, and just continued up the (rather steep) trail up to Wing Lake. Passed a lot of backpackers making their way down. Hit Wing Lake around 10:30 (much stopping on the steep way up). I skipped lunch at the lake, and just figured I'd see how high up the trail toward the Black Peak saddle I could get before turning around. Hah! Made it all the way up that miserable gully to the saddle. (Put my helmet on somewhere around the middle). The gully was work, to be sure--1,000 feet of gain straight up absolute junk over a half-mile. I wouldn't have done it without poles. Hit the saddle at about 11:45 (I was moving slow in the steep kitty litter). I sat at the saddle a while and ate my lunch and regrouped, tbh probably until like 1pm. I hadn't been dead-set on summitting Black Peak, but I hadn't ruled it out either. After much wavering over the issue, some rest and some food, I just decided to give it a go, with an agreement that I could turn back whenever. As mentioned in previous reports, there are cairns marking the route; there's also a bootpath that pretty easy to track. The gully got a little sketch, I turned around somewhere around the top of it, at about 2pm. Poles were helpful on the downhike/downscramble. 

Descended from the saddle (the top part just below the saddle is probably the most sketch -- steep, rocky, slippery with the loose gravel crud sitting on top of rock), and made it past the main downhike from the saddle by about 3pm. Trail back was mostly easy, except retracing steps through the boulder field. I was over it by then, I guess, and it was just brutal slow-going. Did have some candy to perk me up a bit, though.

Once back on the main trail, I made pretty quick work down to the parking lot. Got into my car around 6pm. Long day. 

Larches:
Most larches seemed to be at peak or near peak. All of the larches up near Wing Lake (pictured) are golden yellow. During a gust of wind, some of them were even already dropping their needles. Some larches at lower elevations are still hanging on to a little lime green, but not a lot at this point. If you haven't already gone out to see them, now is a great time! (assuming the weather cooperates)

Trailhead:
Arrived at the trailhead for Maple Pass Loop around 10:30am on a partially sunny Wednesday morning. I ended up parking 0.3 miles from the trailhead. Cars were parked along the road for a similar distance on all sides. Bathrooms were partially stocked-might be a good idea to bring your own supplies on a busy day.

The trail:
The trail was moderately busy for the first couple of miles, going counterclockwise. After splitting onto the cutoff trail for Lewis and Wing Lakes there were considerably fewer people- I think I passed between 15-20 groups the whole way to Wing and back. After crossing the boulder field (follow the cairns/rock stacks!) I arrived at Lewis lake around 12:50pm. I continued on up to Wing Lake via the *very* steep trail and arrived around 1:45pm. There were 4 backpacking sites already taken, but there were more available (I saw 2-3 open sites, there could have been others). I left Wing around 2:30pm and arrived back at the main Maple Pass Loop trail around 4pm. I continued up to the ridge, where I turned around at 4:45 and started heading clockwise back to the trailhead- arrived at ~5:40pm.