Snow or No Snow, That Was The Question

Decided at the last minute while I was camping in Acton to drive to Vincent Gap and hike Mount Baden-Powell. There was only one other car at the trailhead and two PCT hikers cowboy camping. The morning was a little chilly, likely in the low 40’s but the sky was clear when I started off.

About a mile in I realized I did not put my micro spikes in my pack. So, for the next few miles to the summit I wondered what the snow conditions were and whether I would be able to navigate the trail without spikes. I didn’t really hit any snow until just after mile 3. There were a handful of patches, but they were easy to navigate around with spikes.

There were no other hikers on trail as I ascended. I thought the two PCTers would most likely catch up to me sometime before the summit, but I didn’t see them again until I has descended about a mile. There was one other PCT hiker, trail name Happy, at the summit when I arrived. He camped about a mile down from the summit. We chatted for a while and then he headed off toward Little Jimmy Camp.

I spent about 30 or 40 minutes at the summit, before heading down. ON my descent I easily ran into a dozen or more PCT hikers. Which slowed my descent a bit since I stopped and chatted with most of them. As I finished making it back to the trailhead there were 3 more PCTers getting ready to head up. They had just hitched to the trailhead from Wrightwood. So their day was just starting at 1130am.

Great day on trail! 8.1 miles and 2,875 feet in elevation gain.