Hiked to Third Burroughs with six year old today. Started at a busy trailhead at 3:30 AM. It didn't feel too crowded except that a lot of people were using headlamps unnecessarily, making it hard to keep eyes adjusted to the dark for long. The crowds thinned out after the five-way intersection at Frozen Lake.
The ascent to First Burroughs has a number of sections of snow on the trail which are too narrow to allow passing, and where a slip and fall would be serious. Three points of contact were necessary, and passing anyone moving in the other direction was impossible. Crampons were not needed but an ice axe would have been smart. However, we looked at these stretches through binoculars from the Fremont Lookout trail ten days earlier and they were much more extensive - in another ten days they'll probably be gone. There was noticeably less vegetation here than when we nearly walked right up to a bear foraging on this section of trail before dawn last September - presumably there's nothing tasty enough to bring them up to this altitude yet.
The sun came over the horizon while we were taking a break on top of Second Burroughs. If you start any later in the morning than we did, I recommend turning around here.
The stretch between Second and Third Burroughs is its own reward. There was a longer but more benign section of snow halfway up, and a large number of mountain goats resting a comfortable distance off the trail to the south.
We reached the south end of the ridge atop Third Burroughs at about 6:45 AM, and prepared some ramen noodles in a Jetboil (very carefully, to avoid spilling any salty liquid or crumbs). We made our way to the north end of the ridge, took lots of pictures and video, and started back around 8 am. Just after starting downhill, we spotted two ptarmigans and watched one of them take a snow bath for a while.
The 400 foot climb back up Second Burroughs definitely felt like more of a chore than any of the other uphill sections, probably due to the emergence of bugs and the fact that it was then in full sunlight. I really do recommend starting this hike more than two hours before sunrise, plus however much time you plan on spending at the summit, in order to be able to do this part of the return trip before it gets too hot.
Other fauna: we saw a marmot on top of First Burroughs, and a pika on the crowded section of trail heading back toward Sunrise from Frozen Lake. We reached the trailhead at 11 AM, just in time for the visitors' center to open. Total distance travelled was 10.2 miles.
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