9 of us met at the West Rattlesnake Mountain trailhead at 7:30 for a 7:43 start. We were greeted on the road by a stunningly beautiful sunrise, purples and pinks, and had no rain on the day.
A Discover Pass needed. Restrooms weren't too bad this time; the women's toilet has a chip in the cover leaving access for flies (none this time of year, though). TP was available. More trash on the trail than I prefer to see - I picked up discarded tissues and dog bags but left the tiny hard-boiled egg shell fragments at Grand Prospect.
TRAIL CONDITIONS: The trail to Stan's Overlook and Grand Prospect is in decent shape, well-drained with just a few blow downs. It's a different story east of Grand Prospect where logging has taken out a big chunk of trees, leaving blowdowns across the trail including an "upside down" tree spear (the leaning one in the photo, which gets bigger going UP, broke off from the snapped trunk toward the right of the photo) that could have impaled a hiker. As the winds picked up we decided to bail onto the summit road and regain the trail where we'd have fewer blow downs to contend with.
There is some hard crusty snow on the trail at Grand Prospect and beyond, but only in patches and not enough to merit spikes or traction, as it disappears while in the woods.
We all loved the view from Grand Prospect and agreed that turning around at 10:30 was the right decision, as the winds grew all morning as some system moved in.
We saw one biker, one jogger, 12 hikers and about 6-8 dogs on the morning, all on our descent. We also saw a kind gentleman driving to the top to do work on the tower who asked if we were okay and said he never sees anyone go beyond Grand Prospect. (we were having lunch on the road away from any trees that might topple).
We also noted 6-8 blow downs including several "spears" and marveled at the "squeaking trees" making their own kind of music. On the day, 9.25 miles at 2.5 mph moving pace, 2186' gain. And a half a day for other things.
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