Heather - Maple Pass Loop — Saturday, Jul. 13, 2019

Gorgeous day for a hike on Saturday! We arrived around 12:15 pm. As expected, lot was full, but we parked in the wide shoulder along the highway with no issues. The hike is just as stunning as past hikers have written—I won’t hype it more, but this hike is WORTH IT. The bugs near Lake Ann and Heather Pass were truly awful—we stopped briefly at each and were completely swarmed, and I have the dense clusters of bites as reminders. BRING BUG SPRAY! Luckily, after Heather Pass, we encountered fewer bugs along the rest of the trail. The out and back to Lake Ann didn’t add much time or views-wise—we went counter-clockwise (which I would recommend) so encountered the lake before seeing the amazing views to come. In retrospect, I would say your 30 minutes are better spent drinking in the views from the ridge for that much longer, but to each their own.

Overall, can’t recommend this hike enough! We’ll be back.