Little Giant Pass Hike

In the fall I went on yet another Classic Hikes book checkoff hike with Julie. This time it was to Little Giant Pass. It was a more difficult hike at 10 miles and 4000 feet of gain, but the real concern was the crossing of the Chiwawa River near the start of the trail. There's no bridge and can only be crossed by foot safely only during a few months of the year. There weren't a lot of recent trail reports so we were concerned about the crossing. Fortunately it wasn't very deep when we arrived and were able to easily cross in sandals.

The hike started in a forest and we initially couldn't find the trail as it was a bit overgrown. Once on the trail things started easy, but soon we were on switchbacks at a steady climb. We eventually got above the tree line and had to do some simple route finding via cairns across a rocky section. Once above that we were greeted with amazing fall colors and a clear view of our destination far above us. After switchbacks and traversing we made to the top of the pass and was rewarded with an amazing view of Clark Mountain and Napeequa River Valley. It was quite a surprise for me as I was only expecting a difficult fall hike and had no idea of the rewarding view at the end. After a lunch break we were soon heading back down the trail, through the fall colors, into the forest and across the river. It ended being a great hike to end the season.