Total mileage recorded (on Garmin watch): 12.74 mi. We touched the glacier!
Elevation gain recorded: 4,144 ft
Parking: Arrived at 8:40 am on a Thursday and there were just a few spots left in the lot. The lot was still ~ 1/2 full in the evening, mostly with folks planning to start early the next day.
TH: Vault toilets still had plenty of TP in the morning, but 1 out of the 2 dispensers was empty at the end of the day.
Crowds: Trail felt busy, but not like a conga line. Lots of 2-4 person groups hiking.
Time: Hiked with my 66 year old dad (he's got the endurance of a much younger person, IMO), so we took a couple breaks and the last 1/2 mi or so was pretty slow going because it's steep with rocky bits. Started around 9 am, summitted at 1:20 pm, spent ~ 90 min at the top eating lunch/climbing around to see the glacier, and finished the hike at 7:15 pm.
We did see a handful of people starting up the trail at 4-5 pm when we were on our way out. It's worth making extra sure you have 10 essentials for that kind of trip (especially water and headlamps). The Arm portion of the hike took longer than we expected.
Wildlife: No bears or goats, although we did see some goat scat on the rocks and snow near the glacier. Roughly a dozen grouse (including a male trying to woo a female), 6-8 marmots, lots of pikas and other small critters.
Other: Saw a helicopter with what looked like a ready-to-load litter landing on the arm when we were about 1/2-1 mi down. Assuming it was a SAR operation, although we hadn't seen anyone in distress on our hike.
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