Karen and Tom Wanderings

Ah!  One final fling in the mountains before the winter snows shut them down.  As the hiking season wore on, it seemed that additional mountain adventures this year were simply not meant to be.  Plans were cancelled left and right.  Canadian Rockies:  border closed.  California's Sierra Nevada:  massive wildfires.  Mt Rainier's Wonderland Trail:  uncooperative knees, then cold blustery weather.  Cutthroat Pass:  illness, then bad smoke (turned around after driving most of the way there!).  But it all finally came together for Tom (Karen was out of town and missed out).  Good health, perfect weather, and the larch trees at their peak!  Magical! Cutthroat Pass, which lies in the North Cascades, has become a favorite of ours over the last few years.  The Pacific Crest Trail provides a well-maintained and easy-on-the-knees approach that, in the fall, switchbacks up through an eye-popping zone of golden larches and re...