Boundary West, Hummocks Trail — Saturday, May. 12, 2018

We hiked from the Hummocks to Johnston Ridge Observatory on Saturday. We began just before 7:15am and despite there being 4 cars when we arrived, we only saw two other people on the trail. The starting temp was 47 degrees but once out of the shadows it was short and T-shirts the rest of the way- just a small welcomed breeze and full sunshine.  We got to JRO around 9ish and had the observatory grounds to ourselves the entire length of our visit, (other than two rangers washing windows).  We saw a herd of elk below crossing the river and had a nice visit with an inquisitive ground squirrel while we relaxed at JRO (for about an hour).  The trail was in great shape just a couple soggy spots on the lower section and a small patch of snow toward the top (likely to be gone this week).  Not much in the way of flowers yet, we really only saw some paint brush here and there, not much else.  On the return trip we passed several hikers making there way up toward JRO, I'd guess 50+, really the most we've seen above the hummocks in the several times we've done this hike.  Maybe everyone is trying to get it in before JRO opens? Or maybe like the first guy we saw, they didn't realize the road to JRO was not yet open?  We got back to the TH at noon.  The lot was maybe 3/4 full by then.