I hiked from the CCC pull out parking area today to what I call "Point 3800" on the Bessemer trail. This point is about a mile or so shy of the South Bessemer summit, and is about 1200ft less gain, but is a great viewpoint on its own. It's just a few rocks at the switchback around 3800ft.
I headed west on the CCC from the lot. There are a few challenging creek crossing right now along with maybe 2-3 large stobby blowdowns to maneuver around. It's all very lush and alive.
Crossing a really nice bridge , I reached Bessemer road about 3 miles in. Heading up, the crossings at each waterfall are totally manageable with some patience and poles, although the water flow is pretty healthy.
I arrived at the Point roughly 6.4m in and nearly 3k feet of gain for my lunch break. It's a very nice view of the Middlefork valley.
On my way back down, I greeted two cyclists huffing it up the road, and almost wanted to ask them if they knew about the gnarly bike trails nearby. I've hiked up those and I can imagine it'd be quite an exciting descent via bike.
And, closer to the Pratt Overlook trail junction, near the CCC parking area I encountered the only hiker I saw the entire day. Other than that, I saw just one tiny frog (thank you, tiny frog).
No snow to speak of on trail anywhere, or looking up from the Point. Nor observing all high peaks in the area, save the tippy top of Preacher. I suppose it all melted.
RT 12.7m/3014ft
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