16.5 miles of hiking • 5250' elevation gain •
Parked at Elk Cove trailhead, and immediately bushwhacked uphill to the Pinnacle Ridge trailhead. Proceeded from there up through the 2011 Dollar Lake Burn to the Timberline Trail, snacking on some ripe huckleberries along the way. Wandered towards Wy'east Basin, before cutting up again towards Barrett Spur. Had to deal with some lingering snowfields along the way. The views were fantastic once we crested out at nearly 8000'. Hung for a good hour or more. Then it was just an improvisation descent in the general direction of Cairn Basin. But we saw a raging Ladd Creek below, so we diverted east a bit to avoid having to cross it at its worst. Finally ended up back on the Timberline Trail, and wrapped around clockwise until we hit the Elk Cove trail which we took back down to the jeep arriving there almost an hour after sunset. Great day!!!
Comments
Karl
July 29, 2014
Thanks! We debated going to Vista Ridge, but chose Elk Cove for (what seemed like far greater) ease of getting there and to enable the loop option.
Roman
July 29, 2014
Nice pictures, especially the glaciers. Looks like fresh snow near the summit?
Karl
July 30, 2014
Thanks, Roman! Y'know, it didn't hit me until you said it. Yeah, with those heavy rains and falling freezing levels last week, clearly it did snow up high. It's so obvious in the photos now, I can't believe none of us "really saw" it while there. D'oh! :-)
JM
July 29, 2014
Some of my favorite hikes have been doing just what you described, though I think I started at Vista Ridge TH. Great flowers!