It's Wednesday, Hump-Day, October 17th and here's your 3,000 ft, mid-week trail condition update...
Right now, it's all about "aspect" & "elevation". The lower elevation trails in Round Valley, Lost Prospector, Glenwild, etc, are slowly drying out on exposed & south facing aspects but as soon as the trail veers into the shady, protected, north-facing stuff, you'll still find melting snow and pockets of mud(some 30ft or longer).
Skid Row up to & including the north-facing sections of Lost Prospector are a sloppy mix of snow and mud. Once south of the Masonic intersection on LP, you'll find tacky to dry conditions and that will likely be the case in the Gambel Oaks & Solamere Connector zones. Masonic, being north-facing, will likely be greasy.
My guess is that the Hwy 40 side trails, (Rambler, Kari's, High Side & Rusty Shovel) will be variable with large pockets of mud, while the south-facing trails,(Somewhere/Nowhere Elks, Matt's Flat), west/ORR side(Rademan, Rambler, Happy Gilmor & Tin Man)should be mostly G2G.
Again, any north-facing aspect will be holding moisture(the north side of Pulp Friction and lower Rambler just above Ramble On are really bad!). We did a quick hike up Happy Gilmor to the Tin Man intersection from the N. Round Valley trailhead late yesterday and found a few pockets of mud but it was mostly tacky to dry up to that point.
As you climb up into the 7,500-8,000 ft zone, you'll definitely run into snow and melting snow/mud. Silver Spur, Spiro and Armstrong are definitely NOT "good to go" right now(see photos). Mid Mountain above the Montage is still holding a good bit of snow with exposed areas that are melting out by mid-day, creating some super-sloppy conditions.
Above 8,000 ft there is still a good bit of snow/melting snow.
So, in summary, stick to the lower elevation, exposed and south-facing aspects. If you're jonesing to get on the mid to upper elevation trails, get out early, when frozen and be off the trails by NO LATER than 10am. The same goes for the protected, north-facing areas like Skid Row/Lost Prospector & Freemason.
We're seeing a lot of trail damage out there right now which is a real bummer! PLEASE be kind to YOUR trails! ... See MoreSee Less
