Went up to the 5480-foot knoll on Huckleberry Mountain while spending a quiet weekend at Buck Creek.
I'm guessing this trail doesn't see a whole lot of use, but the first 2/3 of the trail up to the Fred Bugner camp is in pretty decent shape. Mostly knee-high brush starting to encroach on narrow tread. It looks like blowdowns on this part of the trail have been cleared sometime in the past year.
After passing the campsite the trail deteriorates. As previous reports mention, there are a number of overgrown sections with eroded tread. If you're not paying attention (or are paying too much attention to the bushes) it is easy to step off the trail down the slope or fall into an eroded pit. Once on the ridge the tread is slumping and crowded by huckleberry bushes.
Snow patches started on the ridgeline (5200 feet) and the meadow was still mostly snow-covered. It had rained the day before so the lower parts of the trail were covered in slugs! It was a great day and it was neat to see how the forest changes as you climb up from the river valley.
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