Family Larch March

My wife and I are always looking for ways to get our kids outside. They love going on hikes, but they are still little, so they can’t go too far or too steep just yet. They don’t mind long car rides though, so this fall, we grabbed a last-minute hotel reservation in Winthrop and headed over to Hart’s Pass for a family larch march!

Hart’s Pass has long been a favorite of ours for relatively easy, enjoyable hiking. It’s far enough from Seattle that it doesn’t get too much traffic, even during peak larch season. The hiking is pretty easy in most cases, and the views start right from the parking lot. The Pacific Crest Trail passes through here, and as always with the PCT, the tread is really good. But beyond the PCT, there are more trails to explore, and on quite a few of them you can find solitude.

There are a lot of choices for larch in the area, but we decided to start by heading south on the PCT out of the Brown Bear trailhead. It’s only maybe half a mile or so to the corner where the PCT turns west, but that basin has a bunch of larch, and the distance is perfect for little legs. We were also fortunate to get blue skies and even a light dusting of snow in the shade and on some of the taller peaks!

On a day like this, the light is often really dynamic and can result in some really interesting photos if you are quick and paying attention. I spent a little bit too much time right out of the gate futzing with a lens change, and managed to drop an 82mm polarizer, which I promptly stepped on and broke. Oops! I find a polarizer essential for light like this, especially when trees are in the scene. The polarizer helps cut the glare on the trees (especially the greens) and can result in much richer color saturation if done right. Thankfully, I still had a couple of other lenses with me that didn’t use the 82mm filter, so I was still able to capture some great images.

When you reach the point where the PCT turns west, the views really open up. You’re looking straight down into Trout Creek, where a fire ran through a decade or so back and turned the trees into matchsticks. Further to the west, you can see Grasshopper Pass and the outline of the PCT as it makes its way toward it. Further in the distance, Mt. Ballard, Azurite Peak, Golden Horn, and Tower Mountain are all visible, depending on your vantage point. The larch mostly stop here for a while, but it doesn’t really matter, as the views are more than captivating enough, even for the little ones!

I think the dusting of snow really made the scene pop!

As I mentioned before, we decided this was a good turnaround spot for our little ones, and so we made our way back down to the trailhead for lunch. But we weren’t done with the day yet! We decided to explore around the other side of Hart’s Pass, on one of the many smaller trails that lead out of the area. The trail we picked had a few cars parked, but we saw zero people the whole time we were out there. And of course, the views from the parking lot are excellent here too. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to grab an aerial telephoto of the road amongst the matchstick-like trees and the fall color.

On the trail, we popped over a ridge, and in the distance, I spotted a black bear foraging on the last blueberries of the season. At that point, he was probably 1000 yards away, but the trail looked like it would take us into a better position to see him without getting too close. So, we made our way down carefully, taking care not to be seen, until we were a good 200 yards or so away and the kids could watch him for a minute. I think he winded us after a few minutes as he picked his nose up, but he never seemed bothered, and we watched him for a while as he slowly made his way up and over the hill.

We then turned our attention to the stand of larch that occupied the small basin where we were standing. A dusting of snow was still covering the shady areas, but the larch were in full force, as were the red berry bushes. Combined with the evergreen trees and the blue sky, it made for a rainbow of color. We explored our own private larch stand for a while, taking pictures and just enjoying being out in the woods together. Here again, the light was pretty cool, as the sun was high enough in the sky to illuminate most of the larch trees, but not so high that it took the hillside out of the shade. This made for some really cool scenes of warm, bright larch against cool, dark rocks.

Here again we called it a day, and made our way back out of the basin and back to the car. Our little ones were full of energy, but clearly tired as we made it back to the car. A few “hurry up pills” (aka Skittles) made the walk out a lot more fun for them! It was a great day for everyone, and I think the kids really enjoyed getting out and seeing the larch. It was especially great as a lot of the larch hikes in the area require a long and arduous approach that isn’t appropriate for little kids, and it was fun to be able to include them!