Liberty Bell Roadless Area

The 141,000-acre Liberty Bell Roadless Area

adjoins Highway 20 [1] at Washington Pass and includes a long stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail, as well as some of the finest rock climbing in the Cascades. An outstanding day hike takes you past two forest-rimmed lakes and over Maple Pass.

The trail begins right along Highway 20, from the south parking lot at Rainy Pass (30 miles west of Winthrop [2]). An almost-level paved trail (wheelchair-accessible) leads a mile to Rainy Lake, with interpretive signs along the way. The cirque lake is backed by high cliffs with plummeting waterfalls.

From here, you can continue up a steeper trail to Maple Pass, and then loop back past Lake Ann (good fishing for cutthroat trout) before returning to the parking area, a total distance of approximately six miles. No camping is allowed anywhere along this popular route.

Also popular is an easy trail to Blue Lake that leads two miles through subalpine meadows to the emerald waters of this mountain lake. Surrounding it is a trio of spectacular summits: Liberty Bell Mountain, Whistler Mountain, and Cutthroat Peak. The Blue Lake trailhead is a half mile west of Washington Pass.