Distance: 6.9 mi.
Elevation Gain: 2200 ft.
Although I’ve heard that this hike is beautiful in the fall, I’ve been scared off by its popularity. Since Melissa and I were heading out to Mazama/Winthrop for the weekend anyway and both had Friday off, we decided we would brave the crowds on a weekday. But actually, thanks to the snow and day of the week, the trail wasn’t too crowded at all. We easily found a spot in the parking lot and went large sections of the trail without seeing anyone.
We started hiking at 1 PM. We decided to hike in the clockwise direction for a steeper ascent and gentler descent, although I doubt it feels very different either direction. We encountered snow at about 6,000 feet and before long we put on our microspikes so we could gain better traction. This hike would probably be fine without spikes and we did have to hike on dirt with them, but we were happy we brought them.
As we reached higher elevations the snow on the side of the trail was 6 inches deep in places. The wide open snowy slopes had me dreaming about ski season. The larches weren’t at peak color but they were still very pretty. The wind started picking up as we reached the final ridge so we layered up. We reached the high point at 3 PM and had a quick lunch.
The views of Ann Lake were even prettier on the descent. We had to be careful with out footing in some steeper sections, but overall it was a straightforward hike back down. We finished up at 5 PM.
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Gear Used:
- GPS
- Microspikes
- Trail runners
- Trekking poles
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