One of the best day hikes anywhere on one of the nicest days imaginable. If it is cool in the North Cascades, it is usually cloudy. Not this time! Cascade River Road is in good condition, though rather washboardy. Last three miles are quite bumpy, but entirely passable for normal pasenger cars. The trailhead itself here is one of the more spectacular places you'll encounter, overlooked by the hanging glaciers on Johannesburg - just far enough away to be safe. For the hiker, things just get better - even when you can't see how there is any room for improvement. The trail to Cascade Pass is so gentle that almost anyone in good health can do it. The Sahale Arm trail, which branches right from the trail to Stehekin perhaps 50 yards past Cascade Pass, is quite steep at the start, moderate in the middle, and at the end is about as steep and plagued with loose rock as you can get and still call it a hike. The view ahead at the end of the first steep stretch is a jaw-dropper, even after Cascade Pass - down to Doubtful Lake, up to Sahale Peak, and across to waterfalls and snowfields. People whose idea of hiking doesn't include loose rock and scree may want to stop next to a delightful brook and mini-meadow at about the 7000' level (this is pretty much the end of the greenery, except for a few isolated spots). Some good bare rock here to sit on and enjoy views of ranks of serrated ranges, as well as Baker and Bonanza. The terminally determined can continue up to 7600' atop the final ridge before Sahale Glacier, adding Glacier Peak to the view. Trail is snowfree all the way, apart from a tiny token snowpatch just before Cascade Pass. Few mosquitoes, flies not bad. A bit of smoke on the east side from the Lake Chelan fire, blown away from the Pass by afternoon westerly breezes. Four bear sightings, from at least three separate bears, none very close to people. Some people were confidently identifying the biggest one as a Grizzly, but its profile didn't look Grizzly-like to us. If you do this hike, allow lots of time.

Wow. Cascade Pass Trail is in fine shape, easy grade and our surveyors carfully counted, there are indeed, as the guidebooks say, 33 switchbacks. Unless you count that little turn on the steps out of the parking lot, and call it 34.. The trail from the pass up Sahale Arm is a little less formalized - and at the same time has some truly impressive stone trailwork in it. On top of the arm there was light fresh snow, and fresh snowfall was in evidence on the surrounding summits. Surrounding Summits! Gracious, what a fantastically pretty place. Climbing up (and up) onto the arm was very worth the additional effort, certainly for this crew of view-inspiration junkies. Two young bucks, ptarmigan, nine climbers across the way climbing past LARGE fresh rockfall to Cache Col and the Ptarmigan Traverse, were all in evidence, along with what looked like a lot of folk camping at the only allowed spot up the arm, the climber's camp at the base of Sahale Glacier.. The corps wants to return to be sure it wasn't all an idyllic dream, and to have more time higher up enjoying the views.

When nice, sunny, late-summer days happen, you gotta go for it! Fair number of cars at trailhead, but only ran into a handful of parties on the trail. Minimal bugs, even though it was quite warm. Strong breeze and usual exhilarating views from the pass. Route is easily discernible (on a clear day) through the rock fields below Sahale. Sat at the foot of the glacier wishing we'd brought gear for the summit horn. I had packed for a hike. Maddog wanted to go the distance. All those bugs that missed us going up found us between Cascade Pass and the parking lot. No stopping on that stretch. Two items of note: 1) Even though the calendar says September, sunscreen is still warranted. You figure out why I tell you this. 2) The Cascade River road currently has fewer potholes than I can ever remember.