17.5 miles of hiking • 4250' elevation gain • 2 nights
Time off away from heat wave. Did the classic GR loop clockwise, with ridge walk to Hawkeye Point. Snow is mostly gone off Goat Ridge (just one basin @ 6300' still has significant snow), but east half of the loop mostly snow covered above 6000 (steep hillsides are snow free, flat bottoms snow covered - easy combination), for about 3.5 miles. Trails will be mostly clear in a couple of weeks. Drifts near Hawkeye Point are epic though, about 40-50 feet tall! Mosquitoes are light higher up, bad near Goat Creek @ 4600'. Flowers already starting on Goat Ridge, even above 6000' in steeper places. Also, saw the oddest thing in the woods - two rangers clearing a trail (how often do you see it)! They've done repairs on Snowgrass trail already, and were clearing blowdowns on Goat Ridge trail the day I was leaving.
