No recent trip reports for Heliotrope Ridge, but it was a beautiful bluebird day at Baker so I decided to give this hike a shot. Forest road to the trailhead had pretty big potholes in the middle section, but any car can pass as long as they're careful. There are snowy sections appearing on the road around 1 mile from the TH, with snow completely covering the road 0.5 mi from the TH. I passed the intermittent snow sections no problem with my SUV (no chains) but a friendly backcountry skier told me a truck got stuck in the snow in the last 0.5 mile, so I parked and hiked up the last bend.
Trail is packed snow but fairly easy to follow (bring a map for tricky sections of the route though) until you hit the junction between Heliotrope Ridge and the Creek Crossing Bypass Spur. I couldn't find the turnoff to Heliotrope Ridge as it seemed everyone else on the trail went up the open meadow towards the Bypass Spur to backcountry ski or snowboard. After postholing around for 15 min, I gave up, ate lunch and headed back. Probably that last 0.5 mile hasn't been trail-broken yet.
Microspikes were perfect for most of the trail but if you want to do the last 0.5 miles to Heliotrope Ridge, bring snowshoes.
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