We were at Artist Point at 6:15 am to watch the sunrise and see Baker turn pink. We chose Ptarmigan because the last two times we came here, it was 100% clouds with a 75% chance of even more clouds. After the sunrise, we hoofed down the trail to Ptarmigan Ridge. After a tricky decent down a slick hard snowfield right at the parking lot, we were on our way. Within 15 minutes, we spotted our first marmot. Earliest. Marmot. Ever. Later on, we had a photo shoot with an adorable baby marmot right on the trail. We probably had 20-25 minutes of ""critter delay"" in total. Lots of marmots. There was also a marmot that kept whistle-squeaking, sort of like a car alarm. He wouldn't stop until one of his marmot buddies told him to shut up. If you want to see them, go early. The blueberries are out too. Sweet ones too.
There's a small number of snowfields to cross on the way to the Coleman Pinnacle, but none of them are very difficult, especially when they turn softer later in the day. But at 7-8:30 am, they're kind of slick. The Pinnacle is a great place to stop, but if you continue on the trail as it winds back behind the Pinnacle, you leave everyone else behind and enter lunar landscapes and crazy flower fields. The trail eventually stops on the top of the edge of one of the Portals, where spectacular views and chipmunks await. We were absotively posulutely alone out there, and it was fantastic.
We left the trailhead at 6:45, hit the end of the trail by 11:30. Spent an hour snacking at the top, then headed down. In the 2.5 hours it took us to get down, we passed 150 people on the trail. Never mind the throngs at the parking lot.
No bugs to speak of, a nice breeze kept them away. But be smart and wear sunscreen. It's all exposed, and you'll fry on a clear day.
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