Road Conditions:
Mostly easy going for my low clearance sedan but there was one dip down and back up at a small stream that my bike rack scraped on. Should be fine in all but the lowest clearance cars and just take care crossing it.
Trail Conditions:
The climb up to Yellow Aster Butte is in good shape overall. Hit the first patches of snow around 4500 ft and then intermittent from there on out. There is one fairly large snowfield to cross and a lot of short little patches. I did the hike in trail runners and didn't have any issues navigating the snow. The final steep push to the top was pretty much snow-free and just one field hanging onto the ridge between the first summit and the main summit. I did not take the side trail down to the backpacker camp area but from up top, it looked like there was a ton of snow still. Might be good to wait another couple weeks if you were wanting to camp.
Did the hike in the late afternoon in the hopes of doing some sunset photography. Baker was shrouded in clouds for hours and then at 8pm with the sun low in the sky, the clouds parted for a beatuiful golden hour. All in all, a great hike and while there is still some snow, nothing is hard to cross.
Comments