The trail: it's in great condition and nice & wide - I wore shorts and didn't have to contend with brushy bits at all. The valley and pass are absolutely stunning, and even though the larches aren't at peak gold yet, their yellow-green color added tons of drama in addition to the bright yellows and reds on the valley floor. There are lots of campsites to the left and right when you arrive at the pass, plus a few campsites down in the valley before the last set of switchbacks, and a site or two near Porcupine Creek. There is a tree at the edge of the trail .35 miles in that had a ground bee hive at its base - I accidentally disturbed it while getting something out of my bag and one stung me; and then a quarter mile later (almost back at the trailhead) another one stung me while I was moving! :(
Crowds/timing: Going on a Sunday evening in the early days of larch madness seemed to be the perfect time - there were a ton of folks headed downhill on my way up, an equal mix of day hikers and backpackers, but only a few other folks also headed up with me. In the end it was just me and another pair of campers at the pass.
Smoke: although it was much clearer than around the Ross/Diablo Lakes area, you could still see and smell that there was smoke in the air from nearby fires, enough that my breathing felt different and I could taste it in my mouth at the end of the day.
Parking: Arrived at the trailhead around 1pm on a Sunday and there were cars overflowing onto the highway but as suspected when I pulled into the lot there were spots open right next to the trailhead due to early morning folks having left already.When I left around 11:30am the next day (Monday) there were less cars in the lot than when I arrived but then there were tons of cars lining both sides of the highway - perhaps all of those were parked for Heather Pass across the street?
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