The Golden Lakes Loop in the Wenatchee National Forest is avoided by many hikers because Harvey Manning and Ira Spring ratted on this trail system for its popularity with off road motorcycles in their book "100 Hikes in Washington’s North Cascades National Park Region."
The two-wheelers gather in flocks on weekends, but mid-week you are likely to find the loop nearly free of people and astonishingly handsome, especially in the fall. Larch, one of a few conifers that lose all their needles each season, advance from green, to yellow, then gold in autumn. At the end of September, the transition is in progress and the full kaleidoscope holds court.
The Golden Lakes Loop shows the east slope of the Cascades at its best. The drive to Twisp is sheer joy in autumn, whether approached from Stevens Pass (U.S. 2) or the North Cascades Highway (Highway 20), but give yourself 4 1/2hours to make the trip comfortably. The 23-mile loop trail is a forgiving track and the grade is never excessively steep.
Temperatures, however, are not as lenient. You’ll reach 8,000 feet, which is frequently above the freezing level in autumn. Plan warm, with the right clothes and cold weather gear.
The parade of lakes associated with the loop are all stunning and can be easily seen in a three-day trip. The ground is open — some lightly forested, some pure alpine — and it’s on the dry side of the Cascades.
Views from the high points range from Mount Rainier and Mount Adams to the south, to the Canadian border and the central plains of Washington to the north, to the Olympic Mountains to the west.
Beginning at the Crater Creek Trailhead, roughly midway between Twisp and Pateros, the trail passes the Crater Lake trail at 0.7 miles and comes to a "T" with the Martin Creek Trail at 2.5 miles. Take the right fork at the junction and travel the loop counterclockwise in order to pass over Sawtooth Ridge into the Chelan Crest country as quickly as possible.
However, you can also stop for the first night at Upper Eagle Lake, a half-mile side trip 5.8 miles from the trailhead. Even if you’re camping elsewhere, the lake is worth a visit. Its rock walls have the most dazzling twilight color show I’ve seen outside Utah. They glow like a burning brick oven.
Another mile past the Eagle Lake trail, you’ll reach 7,600-foot Horsehead Pass, then plunge a mile downward to Boiling Lake. The lake is a stark oval and a great hub for adjacent trails. If you have time, the vast area west of the pass begs a few extra days of rambling, north and south of the beautiful site where the western slopes of Martin Peak meet the east side of Old Maid Mountain.
Enhancing the basic loop, trails stretch out northwesterly to Surprise Lake, Hoodoo Pass and the lovely Oval Lakes basin and westerly by several routes to Lake Chelan.
Alternate loops through Oval Lakes or down Foggy Dew Creek or one-way excursions down Prince Creek or the Blue Jay trail to Lake Chelan require an extra vehicle.
Back on the main loop trail, the dazzling autumn colors will lead you southeast to Cooney Lake, another 4.8 miles from Boiling Lake. Then the trail swings around and northwest again, 7.1 miles to the Martin Lake Trail junction, with the lake itself a 0.6-mile jaunt to the left.
After visiting Martin Lake, another 4 miles brings you back to that first junction and 2.5 miles from your car.
By the time you return to the trailhead, you might see a few cycles howling through the valleys, but you’ll have enjoyed the best parts of the hills in silence.
Barry Truman is a Snohomish freelance writer.
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