Route recommendation for North Cascades mid-September

The “Spider Meadow/Lyman Lakes/Image Lake/Buck Creek Pass” loop is very good, but if you can get a permit (it’s popular) I would recommend the Copper Ridge loop in North Cascades NP. You can do it in either direction. You start and end at the Hannegan Pass trailhead located on the west side of the park. When I did the loop several years ago the (easy) river ford at Indian Creek was full of spawning salmon and it had to have been the coolest river crossing I’ve ever done.  A side trip up Brush Creek to Whatcom Pass and then up even more to camp at Tapto Lakes is lots of extra effort, but highly recommended.

look at weather reports – September can be the nicest, or it can be rainy or snowy, in which case further east can be better

I’d go to Winthrop, WA, have lunch at the School House Brewery. Drive to the Thirty Mile TH, lots a places to camp along the way. Walk to the Boundary Trail and camp at Cathedral Lake on the second night. Go the Horseshoe Meadows, then go over Windy Peak to it’s TH. Take 510A back to the Chewuch go down stream 5.2 miles and you are back at your car. Note that it is about 34 miles from Cathedral Lakes to your car via Windy Peak so you might want to break into 3 days. Did this and more with a car to car starting at Billy Goat TH last week. Big fun. Certainly not as crowded as anything around Glacier Peak. Besides checking on the weather, check to see where the fires are.