The road, reopened the day we went up, is great. Thanks to all who worked on it!
The hike to the summit, as other reports have mentioned, is not for novices. I had microspikes and poles and these were sufficient but it would have been dicey without them. Gaiters and maybe even waterproof pants also recommended as the snow is still 4-5ft deep in some places. Wouldn’t have been a bad idea to bring the ice axe, but I left mine in the car. If you’re attempting this in the snow and fog, a downloaded map and GPS is essential. Don’t go without them — it’s not a trail you can just follow an obvious path this time of year.
We spent a lightly windy night in the lookout and awoke to thick fog, falling snow, and a fresh inch or so of snow on the lookout decks which were snow-free the night before. We deviated from our intended trail slightly a few times on the way down since snow had covered our tracks, but GPS guided us back on course until we met one solo hiker ascending that had left tracks — thanks for those :)
Comments
Is the lookout accessible? Or did you sleep out on the decks?
Posted by:
CorpsManHM on Jun 17, 2024 07:00 AM
The lookout is still shuttered for the winter (I talked to a state parks person before I went up who said it’ll probably be another two weeks before they take the shutters off) but you can get inside the lookout by reaching up under the shutters to open the door and crawling through the lower half of the doorway — it is not locked.
Posted by:
CarrietheSquirrel on Jun 17, 2024 08:27 AM