We checked out Heybrook Ridge for the first time on Saturday as our Hike-a-Thon team reunion hike. We arrived at the parking lot around 9am to only three other cars not hiking with our group. By the time we returned to the trailhead, around noon, the parking lot was full and people were parking on the grass and up the street.
We got started around 9:30 and made it to the top around 10:45. That was with me stopping the group a couple times to catch me slightly-out-of-shape breath. We were greeted with THICK clouds at the top. Thankfully most of us had nowhere else to be so we hung around in the cold and waited... and waited... and waited... and then the clouds parted. Slowly revealing the glorious snowy peaks of Mt Index across the valley. We were all surprised just how close and large they were. Definitely worth the hike and the wait!
The water crossing that was giving hikers trouble last weekend was not issue for us. The water level was low enough to cross on mostly stable rocks. There were two treefalls to cross on the trail. Neither was an issue for the average legged members of our party. For those of us with short legs, they were crotch grabbers but still fairly easy to traverse. One small section of trail could use some attention towards the top: you can tell the trail became a stream during heavy rain and a trench has formed. Otherwise the trail is fantastic and wonderfully constructed!
Protip: there are no bathrooms at the trailhead but there are public bathrooms just across the bridge at the public park in the town of Index.
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