It was nice to hike a trail without having to climb over any blow downs for a change! The Mt. Rose Trail Crew has this trail back in tip-top shape. The lower portions of the trail are dotted with tiger lilies while the upper portions of trail have the usual alpine favorites like bear-grass, avalanche lilies, and indian paintbrush. A fire went through the area last year and was contained along the trail making an interesting contrast between the left and right sides of the trail. The trail is six and a half miles long if you do the lollipop loop and gains about 3400 feet. It is a beautiful hike with a well built trail.

Call me crazy but I went up Mount Rose again today. But this was an exciting trip up because I got to meet my hero's this time. That's right I met the Mount Rose Trail Crew! They actually recognized me from my blog and asked me if I was Mossy Mom.. How cool is that? I'm sure the trail will be completely logged out soon perhaps they even finished up logging it out today. No trouble at all with route finding this time as most of the snow is gone and there are plenty of tracks. http://mosswalks.blogspot.com

The trail has been cleared of winter blow down. Snow patches are minor and present no problems in route finding. The Bear Gulch II fire of 2006 burned over the last 0.2 miles before the summit, as well as numerous stretches below 2,800' but presents no route finding problems.

I must be a masochist because I went up Mount Rose twice this week. I'm trying to get in shape to hike up to Camp Muir later this month. Today I brought my camera and got a few nice pictures. I found a picture I took from the summit in 2005 that shows what it looked like before the burn and will post it here today. Snow level is still at 3,800 feet. The longer route to the summit is easier to follow so I took it up this time and took the shorter route down. I still lost the trail on the way down but thanks to my GPS track log from earlier this week I found the trail again right away. The tree with the sign that says ""no stoves beyond this point"" has fallen down. http://mosswalks.blogspot.com for bigger pictures.

I did the entire loop today for 6.9 miles with 3,4000 elevation gain. The Summit Route is a bit hard to follow and I lost it for several minutes. I only refound it after putting my GPS in my pocket and using my instincts instead. There is snow on the summit route starting at 3,800 feet. The Ridge route is snow free except for a few funny blocks of snow that can be skirted around. About half a dozen small blowdowns accross the ridge route near the summit. On the summite route near the top the trail has been completely obliterated by the fire but by then you can see the summit rock so it's not big deal. A gray jay came begging right after I finished my lunch, I also saw two salamanders on the trail and several banana slugs. I'm only a bit stiff after this hike so I'm pleased with myself. Panther Amanita's are coming up in several places and best of all I found a morel near the trail. Just one lonely little morel but it's only one I have found all year. http://mosswalks.blogspot.com