Hiked Summerland up to Panhandle Gap with a group on Thursday. Two cars had entry permits for the 7:00 entry and one arrived before 6:00. The parking lot was not full at 8:00, there were plenty of spaces. There is no toilet at the trailhead, just stop at either the bathroom just inside the entry gate, or the one at the picnic area at White River campground.
The trail is in great shape all the way to Summerland. We saw two bucks with velvet antlers in the forest, they were quite unafraid of us. Look for many interesting fungi in the forest, it has rained recently. The one log bridge over Fryingpan creek is just fine, no problems. There are ripe blueberries along the upper reaches of the trail, but no flowers until the meadows of Summerland, and there it's the blue gentians, the last of the summer flowers, that catch your eye. The campsites and group shelter at Summerland are on the knoll in trees above meadows, quite wonderful. Water is plentiful, look for tadpoles in quiet pools. Above Summerland, the trail climbs through talus and scree and pikas. It's rockier, but still easy to follow. It crosses the rushing creek on a flat-top log. I stopped at the pond below the final climb to panhandle gap, but the group went to the gap. There is no snow on the hike to the gap, and almost no snow between the lake and the gap. Quite different than a few decades ago.
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