Baldy Snow

[rickcmarsh]

Hello All -

We are doing a 50 miler for our scout camp in the Big Lake/Greer/Baldy Area and we plan to hike up East Baldy and Down West Baldy. I went with my 8 year old to mark areas we planned to camp, and we made it about 3 miles up the trail and then backpacked for the night. We ran into one group that said they turned around because of the snow.

The question I have (we will be there June 12th) is whether or not the trails are passable with the snow that will be there. In searching old triplogs for this time frame there was mention of snow, but not much detail. I wonder if I need to plan an alternate ending of sorts for our trip, if we can't make it all the way up and down the different Baldy trails, or if we will be OK - just may get a little muddy.

Thanks,
Rick

[chumley]

It's been an unusually cool May and there has even been a couple of accumulating snow events up there, but even so, I wouldn't think that any snow that remains in a couple of weeks would turn you around.

This photo was from Memorial Day last year. It actually snowed on us at the base during a late storm (no accumulation down low, and just an inch or two at the top... which had melted by the next day). But the drifts from the winter do last a while in the shaded spots and it wouldn't be unusual to encounter some snow at the highest elevations.

There may even be a few short stretches where you would have to hike in snow (yards, not miles!) but not something that I think would turn you around. It's still 2.5 weeks away, and the weather appears to finally be warming to normal. There will certainly be spots with some mud!

I wouldn't think you will have a problem, but it will be good to be prepared to turn around and head back down if conditions are worse than anticipated. It will also be good to keep an eye on your map and know where you are. It's possible that there will be snow in a sheltered north-facing ravine even at a lower elevation, whereas higher up the exposure might make it snow-free.

[azbackpackr]

On the East Baldy trail I've seen snow in late June, but many people had walked over it before I got there, and it was beaten down and hike-able, but slippery in places. No post-holing happened, thankfully.

[BrunoP]

Here is a better photo.....mostly because its of me http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=419605