10/13, Friday. Rain at times. Picked up a rental car at 6pm. Drove home to pick up my gears, cooked dinner, and took a shower. Drove out at 8pm to Seattle area, unhappy about the traffic jam on Hwy-26 to 405N at this late hour. The rest of drive was smooth, but I was getting drowsy towards the end, despite of all the coffee I had in the morning (I slept less than 5 hours last night). Arrived at a friend's house at 11:25pm. Didn't go to sleep in another 2 hours, chatting with them and I still researching a plan B.
10/14, Saturday, overcast. Rose at 7. Unfortunately woke up the lady or the house. That was bad, delayed my start till 8am. I reached North Cascades visitor center (half a mile off Hwy-20 in Newhalem) around 10:30. They have the same National Geographic map as I have. Not the best map series, in my opinion, missing a lot of perfectly good side trails. The girl at the front dest has never hiked to Cutthroat Pass. However friendly, quite useless. Let's hope she's new here. I then visited Gorge Lake C.G. which is waterfront, but limited views. 5/6 sites were taken already. 
I drove to Rainy Pass, turned north to the PCT north trailhead. My car registered 36° F. A lot of cars already, despite of the low lying thick clouds. Snow on this short access road. I was afraid of getting stuck in ice tomorrow, so parked close to the turn. Walked the rest of the way to trailhead in snow ~12pm. It's a winter wonderland.
PCT is well maintained, with gentle slope. Just in 20 minutes, had the first glimpse of the mountains on the other side of hwy-20. But you headed into the woods again. A few tiny creek crossing, all super easy. 1.5 hours later (~3-4 miles in), saw the first larch, and more as I hiked higher. Long and gentle zigzag going up the pass, views are open, can see all other hikers (oops). Eventually above tree line. 
~2:20pm, I reached Cutthroat Pass. Cutthroat Lake looks very small from here. Frozen. A bit of wind to make it chilly.
Continue left, very soon it's the junction of PCT and Cutthroat Trail (TH 5.5 miles). You lose all the crowds behind. It's almost flat here for a couple of miles, and the view is grand. Even though the dark low clouds are thick, you are high (~6800-7000'), this stretch is still the best view along the entire trek. Will post photos taken on Sunday (the sun makes a big difference). 
Walk carefully, as the snow is deep, trail is narrow and the slope is steep. Met a couple (day-hikers) on this stretch. My phone shut itself when I tried to take a photo. Too code. I put it and the extra battery in my breast pocket to keep them warm. Then the trail drops down in quick successions of zigzag to Granite Pass. On the way, more larches. The clouds sank lower, and I practically walked in freezing fog. Larch needles were covered with frost. Super pretty. However, I was worried about the weather, and kept looking for feasible camping spots. There was a plateau by a bend, full of frosty larches which I was considering spending the night.
The trail continues lower after Granite Pass, but slowly. I was very surprised to see 2 guys coming up ~3:30pm. So I inquired where they turned around. They said Snowy Lakes, and many people camped at Upper Lake. I asked how to find the side trail to the lakes. Answer is easy, there's a cairn. I was delighted. Only now, I realized that I would be reaching my goal. I was also told there was a PCT thru-hiker camping there, who started in April. Continued another ~2 miles, slowly gaining elevation, until the valley towards Snowy Lakes. At a flat meadow, there's the small cairn, and boot track to my right. Soon into this side trail, saw the first of the 2 pink ribbons low on some branches. 
This half mile is the steepest of today. That kept me warm at least. I saw no one at Lower Lake, so setup my tent here, by a larch. Afterwards, hiked to Upper Lake, which is less than 10 minute walk, and minimal elevation gain. It's larger. I saw a total of 3 tents, 6~7 people, scattered about, all by one or another big boulder. Didn't see any single tent. To the end of Upper Lake is the Snowy Lakes Pass, where you can see the mountains fading in and out behind clouds. 
Even though the lake basin is right below Golden Horn, I didn't see the mountain until the next day. Walked back to my camp, put on all my clothes, cooked dinner. The lake was frozen, so had to melt snow. I used my new titanium cup, but it's no good. The flame made a burn mark quickly at the bottom, even though snow is still high inside. The water inside doesn't heat up well, as the cup is loosing heat on the side in a bit of wind, despite of a lid. Took much longer to make dinner. After cleaning the cup, I filled it with snow and tried to make hot water for my bottle. I went to blow my air mattress. Then I saw flame by my cup, and god knows how it happened, the flame somehow hit the igniter button and set the plastic on fire, while the water inside was still not hot. I turned off the switch, and removed melted plastic. This stove is done for. No more warm sleeping bag, and no hot breakfast tomorrow. I remembered seeing rodents dashing across the trail from under the snow earlier. So put all the food in a plastic bag under the larch near my tent.I failed to fall asleep right away (did I mention that it was very cold? I slid my entire backpack under the air mattress, so I don't hit the snow when I turn sideways. The fly flapped from time to time and brought in a draft or two.), so read my Kindle until about 10pm. Surprising, I slept okay. The temperature didn't drop further.
10/15, Sunday, sunny. I woke up at 5am, and unable to fall asleep again, nor did I wanted to brave the cold outside. Air was still. Read until it's light out, and crawled out to clear sky at 7am. Took some time scraping off the frost off the tent fly. Cold, but not colder than last night. 
Someone chewed a hole in the ziplock bag that contained mixed nuts. Everything else is intact: Lara Bar, fruit peel, even chocolate. I still have a long way home, so didn't wait till the sun shining at the camp. Started hiking out at 8am. Only then, did I see Golden Horn, as well as Tower.
Temperature was rising, snow was melting. No more snow or frost on any of the larches today. What a difference does a day make? Not even 24 little hours. Everything looked brilliant today. I stopped on the trail to fetch sunglasses, and was startled by an "excuse me". I thought I was the only one on the trail at this hour. One by one, 3 climbers passed me by, on their way to Snowy Lakes basin. They were climbing both Tower and Golden Horn. Gee, when did they start this morning? At around Granite Pass, one backpacker overtook me. He wasn't wearing gaitors, seems to have just trail runners on. I didn't see a single person tent last night. There must be at least 2 more tents at Upper Lake somewhere. Gaining the elevation back up from Granite Pass is tiring. Eventually broke up to the ridge. Splendid view everywhere I looked. 
The next flat 2 miles is heaven. Now I could see the red huckleberry leaves. Not much left. While some larches were still half green, some needles were coating the snow golden. 
At the trail junction, saw the first couple of day hikers. At 11:20, I was at Cutthroat Pass, all by myself. But not for long. I sat for awhile slowly eating my burrito, hoping for the sun to shine on Cutthroat Lake. It was calm, no wind. Just splendid. Compare this panorama photo with the one yesterday, taken from the same spot.
From there on, it's all the way down. More and more day hikers on their way up. More and more larches, but little snow was left on the branches. Then more and more pines and firs, less larch. I Had to wear a shell to shed the constant dripping from the trees. As I walked back into trees, saw a woman with a full pack. She was planning to go camp at Snowy, but wondered if it's worth the extra miles. I was back at the TH at 1:12pm.
Changed my shirt, socks and into sandals. Down a can of beer and then a can of V8. The good thing about cold weather is that all my food and drink stayed fresh. I gave up the idea of Blue Lake (4 miles RT), but decided to hike Ross Dam trail which I thought would be quick. 
But it took over an hour, and the trail is ugly, passing roads twice. No view to speak of, other than at the dam. Ross Lake Resort looks nice. I don't think I'll hike this trail ever again. I prefer the view at the Diablo Lake Lookout, which I stopped next, briefly. Sun was shinning at the wrong direction for a good photo. It was 3:30pm.Drove 3 hours to a friend's house, whom I haven't seen for over a year. Visited their workshop for woodwork and antique kerosene lamps. Then the topic turned to conspiracy theory regarding to Las Vegas shooting. Disturbing. I left ~7:30pm, drove straight back to the car rental office. A long and satisfying day. Total driven 718 miles. My phone registered 29k and 34k steps.
