Wing Lake, Lewis Lake — Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022

I found this trail to vary from very easy to fairly difficult to follow, but mostly fairly easy. The route through the boulders between Heather Pass and Lewis Lake is the obvious crux of the route. Though it was clear almost the entire day, I had the “joy” of crossing the boulders in fog which started to cruise through Heather Pass just as I got there. The fog only lasted about a half hour or so but, it definitely had me following the cairns for a while and I eventually lost them and just continued up the stream bank to Lewis Lake. I think the only thing really difficult about the boulders on a dry, warm morning like this is knowing that you have to do it again on the way back. If they were icy (common in normal Octobers), I think it could be quite treacherous going. My route back from Lewis Lake to Heather Pass followed the lower elevation trail which had much less bouldering. The scenery between Lewis and Wing is spectacular with large tracts of gold larches and though that part of the route is steep, it is well defined almost the entire way to Wing Lake. In some places, many of the larches have now lost most of their needles which carpeted the trail at times. Though the smell of smoke was noticeable at times, the local views were unaffected and even some of the distant views were surprisingly clear. Since I left early, I only encountered one other hiker between Heather Pass and Wing Lake inbound and didn’t see and tents or camps at either lake. Outbound, I eventually passed about 15-20 others heading inbound.