As of May 14th: Trailhead is open along with the gates and no snow. The road to the trailhead is decent with no issues. If driving a small car, you can park right after the white gate instead of driving the last 1/8 mile to the trailhead. It’s an exposed climb through the burned-out areas since there is no shade. There is lots of re-growth which is nice to see. Around 3.2 miles in, there is a stream on the left side that you can hear. You can get to it in a couple minutes to fill up if needed. There are some small and large snow fields up to the wheelbarrow that we went over or bypassed without micro spikes or crampons. At the wheelbarrow the normal trail heads left (East). That side has a lot of snow and you are traversing the entire way until you get around the hill. From the wheelbarrow we opted to stay right and drop into the canyon where more snow is. From there we put on our crampons and went straight towards the summit. From where we were at, we could see the normal trail which is a combination of snow, dirt depending on how much sun exposure it gets. The Limber Pine campsites have no snow since it sits along the ridge that is exposed to the sun. We did not see any evidence of the spring running (just past the campground), but we didn’t look hard. It’s most likely covered in snow right now. From Limber Pine we stayed in the canyon and went straight up to the summit. From the summit we followed the same path straight down staying in the canyons to stay on the snow. We carried gaiters, but did not need them. The slush was only about 3 – 5 inches and no postholing. Snow is melting fast, so conditions will improve.
AZ Winter 20% off early-bird rate ends in
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