Easy Pass / Fisher Creek Trail

Easy Pass / Fisher Creek Trail is a 14.8-mile, one-way backcountry traverse from the Easy Pass Trailhead on SR 20 to Junction Camp, where it meets Thunder Creek Trail. It is a point-to-point route, not a loop, and Junction Camp has no road access. You can retrace the route for a 29.6-mile round trip, continue about 10 miles down Thunder Creek to Colonial Creek and SR 20, or go 17 miles over Park Creek Pass toward Stehekin. The roughly 25-mile road-to-road itinerary adds the Thunder Creek exit, which is not part of this trail's 14.8 miles. I’d plan an overnight rather than count on a routine day hike; an NPS wilderness permit is required for all overnight stays, and permits are limited.

Cross Granite Creek on a footlog about 300 yards from the trailhead, then climb through western hemlock and Pacific silver fir for about two miles. The trail emerges onto avalanche slopes on Ragged Ridge and climbs steeply over rock and meadow, crossing Easy Pass Creek three times. Snow can stay steep on the north side into July and may hide the tread; the National Park Service advises an ice axe for early-season snow. The pass opens to Fisher Basin and views of Mount Logan, Mount Fisher and Mount Arriva. In fall, golden larches add color to the ridge. From the pass, frame the basin with the glacier-capped peaks beyond it.

The descent into Fisher Basin is steep. About two miles beyond the pass, Fisher Camp sits at the edge of the meadows. The open slopes bloom with wildflowers in spring and early summer, and black bears often feed on huckleberries here. The vegetation is fragile, so stay on the trail or durable rock and snow; camping is prohibited at Easy Pass and in the meadows. Pikas and hoary marmots live among the rocky slopes.

Below the meadows, the grade eases into mature silver fir forest beside Fisher Creek. Cosho Camp is creekside in deep forest, about six miles beyond the pass. Farther down, the forest shifts to western redcedar, western hemlock and cottonwood on stream flats. About a mile before Junction Camp, look for Rock Cabin just off the trail, built against a large boulder and later stabilized by the National Park Service. Junction Camp lies on a ridge above Thunder Creek Valley, with a distant glimpse of Boston Glacier.

The Fisher name comes from the Fisher brothers, who ran a trap line here in the early 1900s. Shortly before the park was protected in 1968, one of the last grizzly bears in the North Cascades was shot in this valley. The old cabin is a reminder of that earlier trapping history.