Alpine Lakes Wilderness V

I was absolutely thrilled in October 2021 to have not just one, but two beautiful weekends during peak color season in the Washington Cascades! Extremely rare -- usually during this time of year we're lucky to get one decent weekend! I returned to the amazing Alpine Lakes Wilderness for the fourth time this year, making it my number one focus area for 2021. This time I hiked a relatively easy, and very popular hike for larches. It was definitely a little crowded, but well worth going and incredibly beautiful with close up views of Mt Stuart, the 9,400ft guardian of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and second highest non-volcanic peak in Washington.