A great morning at exit 27 — worth getting stuck in traffic for an hour on I-90 on the way home (kinda...)!
THE ROAD / PARKING
Plenty of cars already in the area when we got to the trailhead shortly before 9. I was able to snag a spot in the parking lot, but there were definitely cars parked on the side of the road in already, so I wonder if we just got lucky and someone had just left.
When we got back to the parking lot shortly after 1, the lot was still pretty full, with only a couple of available spaces that seemed to get taken quickly.
A large majority of the cars parked in the lot seemed like mountain bikers, rather than hikers.
Vault toilet was in good shape with plenty of toilet paper! The women's toilet seat is cracked and missing a piece, but the toilet itself really didn't smell too bad.
THE TRAIL
Nothing specific to report. Didn't have to deal with bugs at all. The trail is in great shape. This is a nice hike on a sunny day for the most part, with only a few exposed parts aside from the viewpoints.
TIMELINE
8:50 — Arrived at trailhead
9:00 — Left trailhead
10:00 — Reached Stan's Overlook
11:00 — Reached Grand Prospect, lunch break
11:35 — Left Grand Prospect
12:20 — Returned to Stan's Overlook
1:10 — Returned to trailhead
MISC.
It was a beautiful day! We ran across a handful of hikers on the trail and several trail runners, but we got plenty of time to ourselves. And we got Grand Prospect to ourselves for nearly half an hour!
We could see Baker from Grand Prospect, and there was a really nice breeze — even if bugs were a problem on the trail (which they weren't), the breeze probably would have kept them away from the viewpoint.
And the big pack is starting to feel less terribly heavy, so that's nice! 😃
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