A Perfect Morning on Black Crater

We started at the trailhead around 7:30 am under the best of conditions weather-wise.  It was quite interesting to walk through the skeletal remains of what was once a forest. There were signs of new life everywhere though. The wildflowers were beautiful! There were a few snow fields to cross up towards the top. They were steep. This is when we got our poles out.  We brought micro spikes with us, but didn’t use them.  After a couple of crossings we decided to avoid the snow altogether and to go around the edges of the snow fields instead. This was much easier.  The view at the summit was breathtaking!  Round trip the hike took us 3 hours and 55 minutes.  We ran much of the way down.  The trail had plenty of people on it today!