The PCT portion of this hike is still under snow. We took the back door route to Arch Rock by backpacking the Greenwater Trail, camping at the shore of Echo Lake, and attempting Arch Rock as a day hike from there. From our campsite on the north end of the lake we followed the boot-beaten track along the lake's eastern edge to the signed Arch Rock trailhead. The Arch Rock trail was marked with pink vinyl strips tied around trees, but they were placed poorly/erratically and are not always visible from the trail. As a result, the trail splits off into multiple routes that recombine only to split off again, and the undergrowth has suffered from this dispersed trampling. At about 1.5 miles we reached a boulder-filled slope with a beautiful open view of distant snow-capped peaks. Above this point the trail was covered in deep snow, which was criscrossed with partially-melted mole tunnels. No tracks or pink trail markers were visible, so after taking in the view we descended to Echo Lake the way we came. We saw plenty of elk tracks and scat along the way, but not the creatures themselves. The mosquitoes were pretty vicious so take plenty of bug spray!
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