On a last minute whim, I checked the Recreation.gov website on Thursday night and scored a 7AM-9AM entry permit for Sunrise. My hiking buddy and I arrived at the gate around 7:30AM the next day, and were surprised to see only one car ahead of us. I'm unsure if this was the permitting system at work, or people missing/adjusting their arrival time due to the holiday. Parking was easy, but we were swarmed by bugs almost as soon as we got out of the vehicle. Multiple, judicious sprays of bug spray finally knocked them back, but we were both getting fly-bys the entire time we were out.
The trail out of Sunrise was clear, but we hit the first big snowfield on the way to Dege almost immediately. It's still visible from the parking lot, but we wanted to scope it out regardless. At the time, it was about 8' tall, with boot tracks kicked in at a tight angle. The major issue we had was snow integrity, though. There was a lot of melt out underneath, and even at around 8AM, we were already sinking in on almost every step. There were more snowfields than clear trail and neither of us was feeling it without gaiters, so we decided to bag it and head back down on Sourdough Ridge. It was similar here, with lots of mushy snow to cross. Give it a few more days in this heat with more people breaking it down, and I'm sure it'll no longer be an issue. Based on the trip report from Jworthi1, Dege looks clear from the Palisades trail, so that might be a good alternative in the interim.
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