Larches, larches, everywhere!
Getting there: You will never for one second forget that you are driving on an incredibly long dirt road to get to the hike. I survived in my Corolla but it was bumpy and required a lot of attention. I got the last spot in the parking lot; there were many cars there from overnight campers.
Started hike at 6:15am (dear god) with a flashlight and got a beautiful sunrise on the mountains as I huffed and puffed my way up. Total miles: 7.82. Total elevation gain: 3,594ft. Moving time: 3hr, 20min (total activity time with photo ops and snacks was 4hr, 40min).
Trail is kind of narrow in places from plants, dry/sandy, and there are couple fallen trees.
I would honestly recommend going later in the day if you have the patience as the sun hadn't crested the ridge by the time I got up to the basin. While the larches were still gorgeous in the shade, I'm sure they would have popped more later in the morning/afternoon. Things were sunny and beautiful once I made it up to the ridge though too! Compared to the other larch hikes I've done (Lake Ingalls, Maple Pass), this one definitely has the densest/most larches--just groves and groves of them.
Getting out: patience is required getting around all the parked cars on the dirt road as things are NARROW. Glad I did this hike but don't know if I would want to deal with the dirt road again, at least in my current car!
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