Stiletto Lake - Twisp Pass Loop - Oct 2025

This was a great fall-color loop with Katie. While the hordes of larch marchers were congregating at the Maple Pass trailhead, we departed from the quiet Bridge Creek trailhead, just a mile down the road.

We hiked on the PCT for about an eighth of a mile before turning off onto the Stiletto Spur trail. This trail was quite well maintained, despite a bit of brush in the valley, and we quickly reached the turnoff to Stiletto Peak.

The climb up to the old lookout site was well-graded, so none of the 3000’ of gain felt egregiously steep. Despite that, it was still a healthy climb up out of the valley. We began to break out of the trees above 6000 feet, emerging into red meadows with expansive views. There were active rain showers in the direction of Rainbow Ridge, which thankfully dissipated before we felt a drop. The first larches began to appear near the summit and stayed with us for much of the rest of the day.

At the lookout site, we could see the larch-y landscape that awaited us. More red meadows were carpeting the hillside below Stiletto Peak, dotted with the classic golden trees. Excited by the prospect of hiking through this, we descended from the lookout site, following a pretty prominent way trail.

Breaking out of the trees and into the meadows below the Stiletto Lookout site

Katie hiking up hoping the rain squalls don't drift over to us

Beginning the descent to Stiletto Lake

This trail was braided and semi-easy to lose going cross country toward Stiletto Lake, but if you have some off-trail experience it is never too hard to pick back up. Just stay at approximately 6800’ and you’ll be fine!

Descending into larch-land

The combo of red undergrowth and yellow trees was striking

The typical faint path we followed on our traverse

There were some outrageously nice areas through this section as we traversed to the lake. The larches weren’t quite at their peak yet, but they were striking, nonetheless. This part went too quickly, because before long we found ourselves making the final traverse into the lake basin. Stiletto Lake itself is stark, ringed mostly by rock and talus, with some nice larch groves ringing its southeast side. We hung out for a good bit, and any thoughts of a late season swim were quickly squashed by a brisk wind and a tiny snow flurry that disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

Stiletto Lake

The descent from the lake to Twisp Pass also had some jaw-dropping sections, with more red and yellow fall foliage combinations. The trail was now very well-defined and super easy to follow, and we began to see some more people who had hiked up from the Twisp River valley. By the time we reached Twisp Pass it was finally time to descend out of the alpine splendor we had been enjoying ever since our climb to the lookout site.

Dropping toward Twisp Pass

The descent back to the Stiletto Spur trail was smooth, with the only thing of note being a GIANT avalanche path we encountered about a mile west of Dagger Lake. There was a huge swath cut through the forest with giant logs piled like matchsticks at the base of the valley. The force was so great that some had even been pushed uphill on the other side of the river. Does anyone know more about this event?

Looking down toward Dagger Lake

Before long we were cruising back to the PCT, and despite a 5-minute downpour a few minutes from the trailhead, we returned to our car very satisfied with our loop.

Final Stats: 16.7 miles / 4155 feet of gain

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