I needed to fill in this piece of the PCT due to 2024 fire closure. I went southbound, because of the amount of hikers was worried if I could get easy ride down from Hart's Pass. Got dropped off at Hart's morning of the 11th and walked southbound. Lots of beginning fall foliage. The blueberries are red, and larch trees around 6 feet tall are turning yellow, especially near Tatie Peak. Marmots and Pikas out in this area too. Good water source mile before Grasshopper Pass. Switchbacks down from Grasshopper Pass to Glacier Pass were good- I have knee problems, and the grade of the switchbacks did not bother me. Bit brushy along brush creek! Good water source when trail crosses Grush Creek to head SW into Methow basin.
Camped at Methow River crossing, 4 tents on north side and 5 on south side of bridge.
Several little streams still running on way to Methow Pass, then dropped over into Swamp Creek Basin. Took a break at Snowy Lake junction. This is the last water source for almost 5 miles at this time. Halfway between Snowy Lake and Granite Pass there are some narrow and bit scary sections. Would not take small children or horses through here. The trail has slid out in this sandyish section and the 'trail' is about 12 inches wide. There are4 or 5 different ones. The last one, on the side closer to Granite Pass was treacherous. It goes up and over where the trail dropped off, and turns a corner. If you misstep, you are going down to the bottom of the valley on a steep shute. I have done many 'scary' parts of pct, but this one was up at the top of raise the blood pressure. When I got across, I was shaking.
Climb up Granite Pass is beautiful, tons of switchbacks, but nice grade. Then you swing around and are above Cutthroat Creek. Next 2ish miles are pretty flat and beautiful, lots of berries and some larches turning until getting to Cutthroat Pass. I camped here and HIGHLY recommend camping at Cutthroat. Lots of hikers went to top of the knoll, but was windy and they got condensation on bags during night. I camped on the north side in the trees and there are many camp spots with rock walls about 12 inches tall to create a wind block. The sunset, Milky Way and sunrise next morning were out of this world!
5 miles next morning down to Rainy Pass were great, Lots of switchbacks through rocks, scree, berries and Larches, then pop into lower section and it is mostly a green tunnel. Grade is nice and water is more frequent, lots of the little streams are still flowing. About half mile before parking lot is a nice short waterfall.
Parking lot is closed right now- they are resurfacing and improving it, so when I popped out on Rainy Pass, there was a mile of cars on both sides of road on both sides of entrances to parking lots (Maple Pass trailhead lot is also closed). I did get an easy hitch back to Mazama within 10 minutes.
If you aren't a backpacker, I would recommend hiking from Harts to Grasshopper, or Rainy north to Granite for day hikes.
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