[Karen]

Squeezed out one more glorious fall color hike today. My friend Lola and I took the PCT to the Commonwealth Basin junction and from there continued to Red Pass on the "old" PCT. Fall colors were even better than we hoped for. Few hikers on the trail. On our way back we took the old trail (CCT, Commonwealth Basin Trail) back to the trailhead for a change of scene and a loop. Probably about 9 miles round-trip somewhere around 2,600-2,700 feet elevation gain. Beautiful day! Hope it's not the last one but this color can't last forever. Karen

Mountain ash, on the way to Red Pass

The flame of fall color and smoke from a fire in the distance

The color was so brilliant it was hard to believe it was real

Heading toward Red Pass

More fall color

A mini mountain near Red Pass

Flaming fall color and smoke

So hard to leave

[Badger]

Nice Pic's!

[Kat]

Great pics, Karen - I'm envious. After spending the last 2 weekends backpacking, we had to "buck up" and pay attention to the house before the rains hit today, so no hinking. That's a great hike, I did it from the Commonwealth side in October myself a few years ago. Before the MFK road closes at Dingford, you can also reach Red Pass via the old CCT trail from Goldmyer . Thanks to the unknown souls who have kept this route alive

[Karen]

Kat, From the pass it looks like someone has really done a lot of work on the trail (those steep switchbacks). It looks much less terrifying than it did the last time I was up there. Would love to do that sometime but getting to the Middle Fork Road is a problem for me and days are getting short. Will put that one on the calendar for next year and just plan a long, long day with a car shuttle. Those switchbacks down from Red Pass now look no worse than Headlee Pass and certainly doable for many who post here. And I agree, a hearty thanks to the loppers of the world who do the work to keep them viable. Karen

[Don]

Very nice work Karen - you certainly didn't come away cheated! Admittedly, I never would have thought that area to be so prominent in fall colors. Now I know!

[BarbE]

Karen, those pictures are stunning! plus you escaped a dreary, foggy day in the city. If only these autumn colors could last another month or two.

[Pipsissewa]

Karen, those pics are gorgeous! What is the yellow-leafed plant in the pic named "More fall color?"

[Kat]

Karen - re: MFK to Red Pass. Yes, if you want to take the "short cut" from Goldmyer/Burnboot to Red Pass the section from Dingford to the hot springs is iffy, but folks do it in their nice cars. I wouldn't. We use our ancient Pathfinder for that stuff. I'll never forget that hike. I had borrowed H. Hound's GPS. About a mile after crossing Burnboot, we realized his GPS was missing A debate ensued. Should we bail and attempt to locate the (at the time $400 GPS) or just push on? The $ won, and we charged back down the trail in major heat. The GPS was located right next to Burnboot. Charging back up the trail in double-time... I was overcome with heat exhaustion. Like an idiot I did not bail, because I thought the MFK road was closing that year, and I thought I would never have another chance. I crawled up that trail literally like a slug, did not recover until the ridge right before Red Pass. Anyway the whole point of this is, I remember how EXCITED I was to see the old CCT trail symbol on a tree, I took several photos but I'll be darned if I can find one tonightl

[Gil]

Really pretty pix there, Karen! I would have thought the color was gone by now!

[Rich Baldwin]

The mountainash is inspiring.

[Randy]

Wow, you really captured the colors up there. Cool.

[Tazz]

Just beautiful! thanks for the eye candy

[#19]

[Karen]

Thank you everyone for the compliments regarding the fall photos. I didn't expect it to be that colorful either but while driving over the pass a couple days prior to the hike I noticed the color was still good and felt that Red Pass was well worth a try (it's a good trip even without the color). Yes, Rat, it was "far out", a real "trip". We are dating ourselves but oh well. We really felt we were getting away with something. The hoped-for fall color was so much more intense than we anticipated. Just heard the weather report -- sounds good for tomorrow (Tuesday). It's not too late. Call in sick! Karen