Fall color near Snoqualmie Pass is not one show. It's two, and the Cascade crest is the line between them. Drive I-90 over the summit in mid-October and you cross from red and orange maple canyons into a landscape where whole hillsides of conifers turn gold — because they aren't evergreens at all.
We're on the east side of that line. Alpine Lakes Lodge sits at roughly 2,200 feet in Easton, at I-90 Exit 63, about 20 minutes east of the pass. Guests ask us every September where to go for fall color, so here's the honest version: what turns when, what the two shows actually are, where you can still get to them, and — important this year — what's closed.
The crest splits fall color in two
West of the summit, the color comes from broadleaf trees. Vine maple lights up the understory in reds and oranges beneath the firs, and bigleaf maple and cottonwood carry gold through the river canyons and along the highway corridor. It's a forest-floor and canyon-wall kind of color, best seen from close range on a short trail.
East of the summit, the headline act is the larch. Larches are deciduous conifers — needle-bearing trees that go gold and then drop every needle for the winter. Washington State Parks is blunt about the geography in its field guide entry on larch: they are found "almost exclusively east of the Cascade Crest" and "rarely live west of the Pacific Crest." That one sentence explains why so many people drive up from Seattle looking for larches on the wrong side of the pass and go home disappointed.
Easton is on the correct side. That's genuinely the most useful thing we can tell you.
Larches, explained
Washington has two of them, and knowing which one you're chasing determines how high you have to climb.
Western larch (Larix occidentalis) grows between roughly 2,000 and 5,500 feet and reaches up to 170 feet tall with a narrow, triangular crown. This is the low-elevation larch — the one you can see from a car. Our elevation in Easton sits inside the bottom of that band.
Subalpine larch (Larix lyallii) lives higher and colder, typically 5,800 to 7,500 feet, topping out around 70 feet with spreading branches. This is the tree behind the alpine photographs: gnarled, wind-shaped, standing in granite basins above the last of the firs. You earn it with elevation gain.
As for why a conifer would throw away its needles, the Washington Trails Association's science of larches feature quotes forestry specialist Kevin Zobrist: larches "can save resources by not producing leaves in the fall and winter" because the temperatures they grow in "tend to get too cold for winter photosynthesis." Dropping needles also leaves them more resilient to defoliating insects and to fire.
Timing: what turns when
The color window is short and it moves. Both State Parks and WTA put the larch turn in late September into early October, lasting only a few weeks. State Parks describes the sequence precisely: "In late September, they begin turning greenish gold. By early October, they're orange. Then, their color fades and they go bare."
Layered onto the local calendar, that works out roughly like this:
- Mid-to-late September — subalpine larch begins to turn at the highest elevations. Vine maple starts showing red down low. Nights at the property drop into the 30s and 40s.
- Early October — the peak week for subalpine larch and for vine maple. If you only get one weekend, this is usually it.
- Mid-to-late October — western larch peaks in the 2,000-to-5,500-foot band, which is the Easton and Cle Elum country and the US 97 corridor. Bigleaf maple and cottonwood hold gold in the valleys.
- Early November — bare up high. Cottonwood lingers along the rivers, and that's about it.
Two honest caveats. Peak shifts a week or more in either direction depending on the year, and nobody can promise you a date in advance. And high elevations can get their first real snow in October, which ends the show early and can close roads before the needles have even dropped.
Before you plan a 2026 larch hike, read the closure
This is the part that will save you a wasted drive, and it's the reason we published this in August rather than October.
The Three Queens Fire closure on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest's Cle Elum Ranger District is in effect August 24 through October 31, 2026 unless rescinded sooner. That is the entire fall color season.
The closure covers the Teanaway headwaters, and that matters, because the two hikes most people mean when they say "larch hike near Snoqualmie Pass" are both inside it: Esmeralda Basin Trail 1394 and the Esmeralda trailhead, and Ingalls Way Trail 1390 up to Lake Ingalls. WTA's Esmeralda Basin page carries the closure notice as well. Also closed: the West Fork Teanaway Trail, Rachel Lake Trail 1313, Pete Lake Trail 1323, and a long list of forest roads, plus the Kachess, Owhi, Salmon la Sac, Cle Elum River, Red Mountain, Cayuse, Fish Lake, and Wish Poosh campgrounds. On the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie side, roughly 50 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail between Snoqualmie Pass and Deception Pass are closed, with a reroute in place.
Closure orders get amended. Check the Forest Service alert page the morning you leave, not the week before.
Where you can still see color
Everything below sits outside the fire closure. Times are from our front gate.
Lake Easton State Park — 5 minutes. Washington State Parks lists Lake Easton among its parks with larch trees, which makes it the closest larch you can walk to from here. It's a 697-acre park right off I-90 with a day-use area, picnic tables, and a boat launch. The campground closes November 1 through May 1, but day use stays open through the color season. A Discover Pass is required to park: $10 for a day, $45 annual.
Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail — 5 minutes. The old Milwaukee Road rail grade, formerly called the Iron Horse Trail, runs right past Easton, which is one of its designated trailheads. It's flat, wide, and shaded by mixed forest, which makes it the easiest fall walk in the area and the best one for strollers, bikes, or anyone who doesn't want elevation gain. Discover Pass to park at the trailhead.
Coal Mines Trail, Cle Elum to Roslyn to Ronald — about 15 minutes. Another rail grade: 5.5 miles one way for 11 miles round trip with 453 feet of gain and a high point of 2,375 feet. Walk as much of it as you like and turn around. Deciduous color, old mining structures, and it drops you into Roslyn halfway along. No pass required, which is rare around here.
Blewett Pass on US 97 — about an hour. If you want western larch by the hillside without hiking for it, this is the drive. US 97 crests at 4,124 feet and links I-90 to US 2, running straight through larch country between Cle Elum and Wenatchee. The scenery is the destination; you can do it as a loop and be back for dinner.
Franklin Falls — about 30 minutes west. For the maple side of the crest. 2.0 miles round trip, 400 feet of gain, high point 2,600 feet, off I-90 Exit 47, Northwest Forest Pass required. A short canyon walk to a waterfall with vine maple along the way.
One to skip: Gold Creek Pond is closed April 1 through November 30 every year through 2028 for a restoration project. It's a lovely fall spot on paper and it isn't available to you. It reopens for winter snowshoeing — see our guide to Snoqualmie Pass winter activities — but not in October.
Passes: the part that gets people ticketed
There are two systems here and they are not interchangeable.
- Washington State Parks land — Lake Easton, the Palouse to Cascades Trail — requires a Discover Pass, $10 per day or $45 per year.
- National Forest trailheads — Franklin Falls and most Forest Service trails — require a Northwest Forest Pass or America the Beautiful pass.
- Coal Mines Trail requires neither.
Buy the right one before you park. Enforcement is real at the popular fall trailheads.
Fall on the property
We'll be straight with you: we're a basecamp, not a larch destination. The golden stands people photograph are higher and further east than we are.
What fall is here is the quiet season. The summer crowds are gone, the lakes go still, and the fishing picks up as the water cools. There are walking loops through the forest and around all four lakes, fire pits with firewood sold on site, and nights cold enough to justify them. September and October are the two months we most often recommend to couples — see romantic cabin getaways for why — and they're the easiest months of the year to book a weekend.
Every unit is hard-sided and heated, so an early cold snap is a non-event. If you're weighing fall against the other seasons, our season-by-season guide to Snoqualmie Pass lays out the tradeoffs, and if you're headed into the backcountry, read the Alpine Lakes Wilderness permit guide first. For trails closer to the property, start with our hiking page.
Conditions as of August 26, 2026
- Three Queens Fire closure — in effect through October 31, 2026. Closes Esmeralda Basin, Lake Ingalls, the West Fork Teanaway, Rachel Lake, Pete Lake, numerous forest roads, and the Salmon la Sac, Cle Elum River, Kachess, Owhi, Red Mountain, Cayuse, Fish Lake, and Wish Poosh campgrounds. Verify on the Okanogan-Wenatchee alert page before you go.
- Pacific Crest Trail — roughly 50 miles closed between Snoqualmie Pass and Deception Pass, with a reroute in place.
- Gold Creek Pond — closed April 1 to November 30 annually through 2028.
- Lake Easton State Park campground — closes November 1.
Conditions change. These are the facts as we verified them on the date above; the linked agency pages are the authority.