Started our challenge off with Maiden Peak! Definitely early summer conditions but we did it car to car in 5.5 hours hiking with a 20 or so min stop on the summit.
Mosquitos were SPICY so bring some spray if you’re heading up. Saw a bear cub on the trail (gave him lots of space and he ran up a tree). Other than the bugs and the cub we saw no other hikers.
Still plenty of snow patches as you near the summit (final push is snow free), it’s firm enough that we did it in trail runners but we have lots of experience in snow so if not I would recommend being more prepped especially on the descent.
The summit is (low whistle) so beautiful, it was chilly so grab a layer if you want to stay longer.
Trail is REALLY well marked (blue diamonds) but we downloaded the All Trails map which was good to have when we came to some of the bigger snow patches.
Responses
Very cool that you saw a bear cub! (and not a protective momma bear).
I’m headed out to Maiden Peak this Saturday, but planning to hike from the Maiden Lake TH on the east side (once I confirm that the FS road is open).