We arrived at the TH a little after 8a on a Sat. There was plenty of parking and the toilets were open, clean and had toilet paper.
The road to the TH is fine. I made it in a sedan. The worst part of the road is between the campground and Blanca Lake TH with some potholes that you can drive around or go slow over.
There are several trees down over the trail. A few are small and easy enough to step over. One is gigantic and easy to go under. But 3-4 require some thought. There is usually a path around, but it can be hard to see as it is not well trodden yet. I'll include a few photos below.
Also the trail is overgrown in quite a few places. We saw Devil's club brushing up against the trail in a few places while we were still in the forest. It was easy to avoid if you know how to spot it. If you don't like plants brushing your legs, you will need long pants.
There is a snowfield right before the peak of Benchmark. We all made with just poles. The snow is pretty slushy and we didn't feel like we needed microspikes.
I haven't done a ton of ridge walks, and for others that haven't, there was more up and down on the ridge than I expected. Like not just rolling up and down but at least one place that had switchbacks.
The views are incredible!
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