Little Giant Pass — Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024

A huge thank you to the Wenatchee River RD Trail Crew that just finish doing much needed trail work 10 days ago. They cut out 80 wind fall and brushed out the worst sections. There's still some mild brush to contend with so if it is wet then you will get soaked.

This is one of the harder hikes that I've done with 4200 feet of elevation gain and 10.7 miles round trip. The trail starts with a relatively easy ford of the Chiwawa river. The ford is just 100 feet from the TH so just put on your water shoes at the car and carry your boots and a towel in a bag.  The water is fairly cold and was as deep as just below the knee caps at one point. Most of the crossing is mid calf depth.

The first 2 miles of trail is on outstanding tread through attractive forest. It  gains elevation at a civilized rate of 500 feet/mile.  At 2.3 miles the pitch abruptly changes to 1500 feet/mile for 0.2 miles. It then moderates before it steeply drops about 200 feet to the creek crossing at 3.2 miles. This is a reliable water source.  Beyond the creek, the trail becomes very steep and gains 1300 feet in the next mile.  There's also a steep rock section with cairns at 3.8 miles that last for a little over 0.1 miles. The last mile to the pass gains at a steep but reasonable 1000ft/mile.  This last mile traverses beautiful meadows with intense peak fall color right now.  The huckleberries are also sweet, ripe, and very plentiful.  Probably the most huckleberries that I've ever seen!  

Once at the pass you need to continue 0.1 miles up the ridge to the north to  get a spectacular view down into Napeequa Valley.  Clark Mountain (8600ft) with it's beefy glacier and Glacier Peak are the highlight peaks in the view.  There are just a few alpine larches around the pass but they are still green. The Napeequa Valley is still about a week shy of full fall color.

High buck hunting season ended yesterday so didn't have to deal with that unpleasantry.  We only saw 5 other people (2 groups) all day.  The weather was cool and cloudy.

Horses are technically allowed on this trail but fortunately I didn't see any signs of horse use.  I actually don't think that a horse could even make it up this trail with some of the steep and rocky sections.  It's a good thing since this steep and sandy trail would be quickly trashed if a horse was taken on it.

10.7mile RT with 4200 feet elevation gain.

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/little-giant-pass-4e0d67e
• https://photos.app.goo.gl/NCFXozK2JNkcj4Xz8