Jolly Mountain — Saturday, Jul. 8, 2017

This hike was definitely a bit of a slog, but the views from the top really were amazing! Our Green Trails map and GPS put the trip at closer to 14 miles round trip. We were able to pick up the trail at the back of Cayuse Horse Camp, but there are a bunch of crisscrossing horse trails and such that can be a bit confusing near the start of the trail. Further up, the trail junctions are really well signed (though the mileages seem to be rounded down). The trail is rocky and dusty and loose, and the final descent is a bit of a chossy stumble, but trail conditions were generally good and we didn’t run into any barriers or other issues. There were still patches of snow on the north slope of the final section of Jolly, but none of them were in places that felt dangerous or exposed and it wasn’t hard to see where the trail picked up again. After a couple stream crossings early on, we ran into one fairly small rivulet of water between the first and second trail junctions, but otherwise water was scarce on this trail, and we went through a lot given how hot and dry it was (the high that day was 86 degrees F at 2400 ft). Overall it was a great hike!