We had an excellent 2 night backpacking trip. First night to Lewis Lake, left trailhead around 6:30pm and got to Lewis Lake around 8:30pm, many campsites, we were the only ones there. The boulder field after the pass was challenging, and hard to navigate at times. On Saturday we hiked up to Wing Lake and the views were incredible, lots of snow, lake is still frozen over. Spent the night and woke up to frost everywhere, sure was cold. Many Marmots around Wing Lake. Sunday we hiked back to TH around 6am and took us 2.5hrs. Great trip as we had both lakes to ourselves, many folks sumitting Black Peak. 

The Maple Pass parking lot is still snowed in, and while the only legal parking is on the road, we saw plenty of cars along the side of the trailhead. The trail is mostly snow free until about ~5500 ft. Patches of trail in the snow until ~6100 ft, then consistent snow coverage after Heather Pass. The traverse of the talus field to Lewis Lake has a solid booter, and enough coverage that we didn't break through to the rocks below. There were small cornices above and recent rock slides so we hustled across this section. We did bring ice axes and crampons but didn't end up using them.

We were carrying skis, so we turned around at Wing Lake due to warming and diminishing returns for skiing. There are cornices above the col and evidence of slides so travel cautiously, but SE ridge and summit look relatively snow-free.

Yesterday, I hiked to the Wing Lake.

10.4 miles RT with 3100 ft of elevation gain.
took exactly 7 hours.

Reached the TH at 9am on Saturday morning, and parking was a mess. There were so many people at the TH.
I parked on the side of the highway 1/2 miles away from the Rainy Pass entrance.
The car ahead of me the at the Parking, they were going to Cutthroat Pass and they mentioned there were no space at either of the THs of the Cutthroat Pass/Lake.

People parked wherever they saw a space, that whole section of the HWY 20 is an absolute mess.
while coming back I had to stop my car completely, the car ahead of me stopped in the middle of Highway to drop other passengers in front of the Rainy Pass entrance.
Saw someone ran over a traffic sign there too.

Enough rant about humans nonsense lol.

The hike started with a lot of People, I mean a lot of people.
I thought last week Ingalls Lake was bad, This is worse.
Somehow crossed all of them for the first 2 miles to the cut off to the Black Peak.

From there, the real fun began.
It was peaceful, although there were enough people going to the Wing Lake but all were far apart from each other.
Crossing the huge boulder field was extremely fun.
My suggestion, trust the cairns and follow them.
There were many cairns throughout the boulder field which kind of forked from one cairn and meet at another cairn.
Just pick either one of the cairn and follow that, I saw couple of people went too up in the boulder field and had to scramble down at the end.

The part between Lewis and Wing is extremely steep.
My Garmin tracked around 1200 feet of elevation gain in 1.2 miles.

At the wing Lake, saw many people were camping for the night!

The whole hike was enjoyable until I came back to the Maple Pass junction again, and had to hike back with a bunch of people! 🥲


Side note: 

Every time I go to North Cascades, I stop at Upriver or Mondos restaurants at Marblemount for eating.
Yesterday at 5pm, I saw a queue outside of Upriver.
I wanted to mention this so that everyone can understand the amount of traffic North Cascades are getting nowadays!

EDIT:

For Tolkien and LOTR fans, I made a reel of The lakes and the cascade mountain! The link is attached on this report! 😬

When we arrived to the trailhead around 11am on Saturday on a beautiful fall weekend, we joined many others at the Rainy Pass trailhead. So yes, parking is intense. We were able to snag a spot close-ish (not too far; cars were on the highway a mile back) to the trailhead as people circulated out.

Hike up to Heather Pass was a breeze. Lots of people in both directions.
The boulder field was interesting and my group couldn't fully figure out our logic on our two trips across... Heading to Wing Lake, we took a high route through the field and follow cairns. On the way back, we took a low route that followed trail in lots of parts and avoided being in the boulder field the whole time. But I guess we didn't see that on our way in? I'd recommend taking the low route if you see it, but there are cairns throughout the boulder field that make any adventure fine. It is fun!

Trail from Lewis to Wing lake is steep; don't underestimate it like we did! It is an amazing walk up through dense larches. So gorgeous. Wing Lake is also beautiful. We set up camp alongside many others; solitude at Wing Lake was not possible during our stay. On an average day, there are many ideal camping areas. But this weekend, it was crowded. Lots of people getting up to see the sunrise peak up in the morning.

For Black Peak: We brought helmets and wore them the whole time although they didn't get "utilized" per say. Lots of loose rock on the scree field. Majority of people were wearing helmets. The scree field has multiple favorable routes. We took a left switchback way up to avoid a steep ascent but agreed that the steep ascent straight up would have probably been better. Right before you get to the saddle and out of the scree field, there is a steep-er and slippery section. This is all class 2 on loose scree, maybe class 3 right before you hit the ridge.

The rest of the journey is a lot of route-finding. Lots of ways to go but definitely some better than others. We saw parties coming from different places, some backtracking, some regretting their route, etc. We had a map and it helped us in places where the best path forward wasn't very obvious, which did happen a few times, and we felt like following the map's route make our ascent to summit pretty moderate and comfortable. For example, we followed a trail mid-way up that took us left and then cut across using a traverse rather than going straight up/down the loose and steep gully. That was best. You are sometimes using your hands but it is mostly walking and route-finding.

The final summit block for sure has class 4 moves and exposure. As you approach the summit, you stumble upon the rappel route first, signified by a blue sling. Don't climb up this and, instead, continue around right, where you'll find a better ascent with some committing class 4 moves. 

It was awesome! Views of everything. Be careful on the downclimb!

Saturday, Oct 12.

PSA…

Just drove HWY 20 westbound from Mazama — heading towards I-5.

At 745a, Rainy Pass had what must’ve been 300-400 cars parked along the side of the highway.

Blue Lake, perhaps 50-100 cars parked along the highway.

Happy larching, y’all!