We started hiking at 7:30. There was 1 to 2 inches of snow on the trail. The snow really slowed us down. Down in the canyon the melting snow was falling from the trees and it looked like it was snowing! The snow didn't go away until we dropped below 4,200 on the Copper camp trail. We had the usually route finding issues by the Copper Camp creek. I think next year I'll bushwhack above creek bed and avoid the cat's claw overgrowth. We found an old piece of farming equipment by the creek. The climb up Cypress Ridge was not that hard this time. This year I stayed to the far left on descending the Cypress Ridge. Not only did it put us in grassy fields, we also had an easy crossing point of the Sheep Creek. We crossed Sheep Creek right at the Canyon with the former cabin. We went to where the cabin used to be and they headed back. The rest of the hike went just like clockwork. All of the snow on the trails was melted away by now.

we saw one rattlesnake and 8~10 deer running around.

This is still one of my favorite hikes. I'm exhausted by the end of this hike.