Hibox Mountain — Saturday, Jun. 22, 2019

Was surprised to find heavy traffic on the climber's trail to Hibox today, I saw at least a dozen others descending as I made my way up. As the other reports indicate, the turn-off to the right is just after re-entering the forest a little over 2 miles along the Rachel Lake trail. It's not marked but it's obvious if you're looking for it. Within sight of the main trail there are two downed logs stacked on top of each other blockading the footpath, once you're over those it's pretty obvious where to go until you reach the summit block (you'd never mistake it for a sanctioned trail, though, it goes pretty much straight up and the footing often sucks).

Once you get near the cliffs at the top, follow the cairns to the right (east-ish) until you get to the top of the ridge coming up from Lobox. (For now there is still a fair amount of snow on the opposite side of this ridge, so if you go within a few days of this report just keep circling the summit counter-clockwise until you find the big snowfield.) Ascending the south ridge there were good foot and handholds the remainder of the way to the top, but the rock has lots of cracks and fissures so make sure things aren't loose before putting your weight on them. The summit register was hidden under the 2nd-highest rock right at the top; I couldn't find a USGS marker anywhere but I didn't look very hard. The exact summit was super-duper windy, but everywhere else was well-sheltered.

Only essential gear is poles for the descent, even using them heavily my legs were jelly by the time I got back down to the main trail. Total time round-trip from the car was about 5.5 hours, with minimal time spent at the top (stupid clouds!).