Baxter Pass vs the Others

[gregodorizzi]

All this talk of the brutality and grandeur of Baxter is making me want to give it a try.

[Buford]

I’ve been over Baxter but none of the other bad ones. It was about 2 years ago in September. I put up a mini report on here.

There is no or little trail in some spots, but navigation is easy. Not terrible bushwhacking. Look out for the stinging nettle.

After all the horror stories I thought it would be worse. I didn’t think it was that bad.

[ironmike]

In the end, what makes a trail/pass so difficult or inhospitable? Is it rate of altitude gain, rockiness, lack of maintenance (hence sketchy), heat/dryness, lack of vegetation or reasonable camping locations? All of these are reasonable contributing factors, but the weighting is subjective, ergo I think objective comparisons of the Terrible 4 east side passes are moot. Personally I prefer Shepherd to the other 3 (with Baxter as my least fav), but respect the fact that no other opinion is “wrong”.