Notch Pass — Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025

**WARNING** Bees nest within the first 1/3 mile from the bottom trailhead.
We went on the rough road with huge potholes and like other trail reports from July, the first section is definitely overgrown. However at about a quarter mile in, it does open up. We encountered the large ground dwelling bees nest shortly after that. I lucked out, as the leader of the hike, but my fellow companions were not so lucky, getting stung about a dozen times between them. After running from them (twice, as they did follow us) we decided not to return the same way and made the hike a loop, by taking Notch Pass to it's terminus on the LBQ, following that trail to it's end and walking the 3-4 miles from that TH to the Notch Pass TH. If you lost a hiking pole on this trail (I can only assume dropping it due to being stung by bees, coz it was very close to the nest) then we left it at the NP trailhead.
Regardless of this rude start to our adventure, a lovely walk we had. It is a good effort climbing to the first road crossing (which I'm recommending be the start point for at least through the Summer) and then lovely mossy areas and pretty bridge crossings all the way to the LBQ.