No snow until about a mile past the balcony. Microspikes needed for some steep and icy sections.

Great hike.

I got to the parking lot around 9:15am. The roads were fairly icy coming off the freeway so be wary!

Overall, solid hike. Snow started showing up after a mile or so on the trail. At about 2800 ft. is where the snow is continuously in the trail. starts with a couple inches and then gets to 2+ ft. at the top. I definitly recommend Gators, and Poles. We were able to tamp down the snow pretty good today. In the future snowshoes may be helpful if people havent been up there in a while.

Overall, the hike took me a bit longer than I expected going up and much faster down. The trail is very well maintained. I will definitely look into going back in the summer time.

At the top, watch out for the edge overlooking the lakes. It seems to be a cornice or have a steep drop.

GPS from the parking lot clocked it at:

8.7 Miles & 3484 Ft elevation gain. It took just under 5.5hrs including breaks.

No trees over the trail! Intermittent snow starts after the junction with the balcony turn off. Consistent snow starts around the turn off to “dirty Harry’s museum”. Close to the top, it’s about 2-3 feet of snow, but someone cut trail, and enough folks have made a nice path through the snow up to the peak. Gaiters and poles were fine - snow was soft and powdery, no icy conditions. Really a perfect day up there.

Got to the summit of Dirty Harry’s Peak today, but it took a bit of effort, as I don’t think anyone has been up there since the recent snowstorms. The tracks that I was following stopped about 100 vertical feet from the summit. 18-24” of snow on the ground, with possible more in the track of the trail, as I was post holing up past my knees breaking trail. I went to both views points, both of which had no views. Still pretty up there with all the fresh snow though. Snow became consistent on the trail at the viewpoint above the creek crossing, and the Museum, so no need for micro spikes if only going to here. Creek was flowing pretty good, but there were rocks above the water line to hop across. Poles helped with the creek crossing.

To the balcony: no snow at all to the balcony, just a few muddy spots and patchy frost near the top, mostly dry on the trail. It was cloudy when I hiked in the late afternoon, but the sky cleared later when I got to the balcony, nice view of McClellan butte  and other peaks around. Remember to turn right at the junction of the dirty Harry’s balcony and the peak. There were clear signs on the trail. 

to the peak: as I started late I just turned around after reaching 3500 ft, there was about 1-2 inches of snow at that elevation. Snow started after 3300 ft. Probably fine with just poles, but definitely deeper snow at higher elevation, so microspikes and gaiters will be helpful. Nice sunset view on my way down. It was really chilly on Friday evening though, close to freezing point, bring layers!