We arrived at the trailhead around 9 a.m., and the parking lots were mostly empty. After getting ready, we hit the trail. The trail was in good condition and snow-free for the first few miles. Snow patches started appearing around 6,300 feet—about three miles in—and continued for roughly half a mile before clearing up again all the way to the lake. We pretty much had the trail and the lake to ourselves—gotta love weekday hikes!

The views at the lake were absolutely stunning.  It was a great day to be out!

Had to get out early Sunday morning and go see this beauty for the first time this year. Got to the trailhead at 6:45 and I was only the 5th car in the parking lot. Trail is straightforward until you get up to the top of Ingalls Pass. There was a bit of snow but never ended up feeling like I needed spikes. Poles were fine. The lake was beautiful and it was very peaceful with not a whole lot of people. Ended up coming back and going down into Headlight Basin and I really regret that. Wasn’t a whole lot more snow was just harder to navigate. Saw a whopping 20 or so people on the trail and unfortunately didn’t see any goats today. Round trip 9 miles and 2,927 feet elevation gain.

There was rain forecast on the west side so we pivoted to the teanaway and had good partly cloudy weather after a late start.  Not many trip reports so wanted to convey that despite the low snow year, it’s still pretty much all snow from about 5000 feet (about a mile into the trail).  Firm enough to travel without much trouble until the late afternoon where we had some post holes to deal with.  One steep stream crossing after the junction was a little hairy, with the dirt below the snowfield totally saturated and slippery.  Otherwise pretty steady and comfortable travel with poles.  Didn’t pull out our spikes. And we stopped at the pass as the weather started to look a little dodgier.  

a beautiful day out there and the first yellow lilies were out there trembling in the wind.  

Super fun loop as Glen99,SoaringEagle, Ngie and myself went up to Longs Pass, traversed over and climbed Not Hinkouse Peak, dropped down to Ingalls Pass, then went up the ridge to Fortune Peak, and then hiked back out taking the Esmeralda Basin trail. Road is now snow free to the trailhead.

Trail is pretty much snow free up to the turn off to the Ingalls Way trail, where it becomes mostly all snow. Here we took the Ingalls Way trail for a bit, before heading straight up in the snow. The snow was fairly consolidated , which was a good thing, as we left the snowshoes in the car. The trail up to Longs Pass was buried in the snow, so we headed straight up in the snow up to the pass.

At Longs Pass we took a left and headed along the ridge up and over a couple of high points, and went up to Not Hinkhouse Peak. Some very large overhanging cornices along this ridge that we avoided. Not Hinkhouse Peak summit has some fantastic views. We took a long break here, before heading down to Ingalls Pass.

The trip down from Not Hinkhouse Peak and Ingalls Pass involved quite a bit of down scrambling. Fortunately the rock was dry, as there was some very difficult down scrambling to do, as this ridge is very rugged.

Once down to Ingalls Pass we took the ridge directly up to Fortune Peak. There are a couple of high points along this ridge that involved some more scrambling, and one spot of a class 3/4 down scramble that we again were fortunate that the rock was dry. After this spot it was a steep ridge walk up to the summit of Fortune Peak. We ran into 3 skiers that had skinned up Fortune Peak, and skied out.

Weather had deteriorated a bit when we were on Fortune Peak summit. It was windy, and even began to snow. Heading down from Fortune Peak to the pass above Lake Ann turned out to be quite difficult, as it is still snow covered, and is very steep. We stopped and put on our crampons, and got out our ice axes. The snow was very firm, so we had to be careful. I slipped once, and had to self arrest. 

Once down to the pass, we decided to scramble up to Small Fortune. At the base of the summit block, we dropped our packs, and scrambled up to the rocky summit. The rock was dry and grippy, so it was a fun scramble up to this summit. We then dropped back down to our packs, and went straight down in the snow, and picked up the Esmeralda Basin Trail, and hiked back to the car.

Great group, and a great trip!. We brought our winter gear, and it was a good thing, as we ended up wearing most if not all of our layers. We started at 9:10 am, and finished at 5:20pm. 8.5 miles with 4285ft elevation gain

Trail overall easy to follow, but rainy conditions made the trail very muddy. Lake was difficult to see with overcast, but overall still a very pretty hike with the mountains peeking out of the fog and larches barely hanging on.