Took a swing at Big Snow Mountain. The gravel road out to the TH is pretty rough, we managed 5-8mph max in a mid sized SUV with a bike hitch (limiting clearance for the larger potholes and the one or two dips). We had to move a large tree that had fallen across the road about 2M short of the parking lot - thankfully it had cracked so we only had to shift a section about the width of the road.
The bike section to the start of the hiking trail (not really well marked, bring a GPX for the bike section) had better road quality than the main road and took about 75min. It's never really steep but with a 20lb backpack, I found myself in 1st gear a couple of times. There are some pretty rough sections dominated by bigger rocks so I was glad I hadn't opted for a gravel bike. Being on a full suspension MTB with wide tires also made the downhill downright enjoyable ;-)
The trail starts out pretty easy and well-established on an old logging road. Pretty soon it starts getting tighter and steeper through the forest, then there is the first boulder field to cross. We were in light fog with even a drizzle thrown in so the boulders, esp. the mossy ones, required a lot of care to navigate safely. There are cairns but as ever, they're not super-easy to follow on the way up. Because all vegatation was dripping wet, as soon as we exited that first boulder field, our pants became rapidly soaked. Even one or two tight passages between soaked bushes was enough - and then it's pointless to put on rain gear. Be smarter and do it before the first car wash section ;-) The trail is on and off pretty hard to follow so GPX on phone/watch became essential. There are some rock slabs to clear that took some scouting left and right before we found a crack that was doable in the wet. Traversing the boulder field along the left side of the first lake was again an exercise in caution but fun. After the second lake, it's into the large boulder fields that eventually lead to the pass. It's largely pick-your-own adventure. Nothing is too loose and sometimes it was possible to use the edge of the field to find a clearer path. There is no snow left in this section that might make early season travel here much easier. We were still in the fog/clouds at this point (contrary to the NWS forecast that had the sun peaking through at noon) and starting to run a touch late. We reached the saddle and turned climber's left along the slabs in this section. Visibility was maybe 50ft at that point. Having started too high, we had to drop down across the wet and pretty slippery off-camber slabs. We decided to do a check-in for time, re-assess the chances for views from the top (nil at this point) and risk (my partner's shoes were soaked and didn't have anything like the required traction on wet rock). We decided to call it quits, had lunch and started on the way down around 2pm, probably about 1h from the summit. Downhill travel wasn't much faster at all - the speed limit was still set by safely rock-hopping mossy boulders. I wore my full rain gear on the way down. We were back at the bikes shortly after 5pm and back at the car 45min later.
Zero people, a handful of frogs, mosquitos galore a minute after stopping (but not noticeable while walking), a few pika screams.
Never used my pole(s) other than for whacking water off trees, no need for microspikes to the point of our turnaround. Wish I'd brought my full-zip rain pants for protection with ventilation on the way up. Shoes nearly soaked through.
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