Trip Report - Alta Peak Trail 5/19/2017

[chrisg262]

Headed out for an overnight from Wolverton on May 19th 2017.
On the way down many people asked about higher elevation conditions so I thought a post here may be useful.
We took the route from Wolverton through Long Meadow and onto the Alta Peak Trail.
We camped overnight just below Panther Peak.
Next morning continued out to Mehrten Meadow and then turned around returning to Wolverton via the Lakes Trail.
Snow pack is fairly solid on the North facing slope from Panther Gap down to wolverton down to around 7800 ft.
In the morning it is ice so spikes are necessary all over.
In the evening it was walkable with just boots.
The South facing slope is much clearer but along the trail at 8600ft there were still sections blocking the trail and they were fairly solid in the morning.
There were a couple of sections on the way to Mehrten where even with spikes and me cutting small foot placements, my hiking partner was not up for it so we turned back.
Probably after midday they will soften up a bit and make better going of it.
There were no problematic water crossings at that time.

[Shawn]

Hey Chris, welcome to HST.

I day hiked to Mehrten Meadow on 5/12' and hoped the "trail" would have been more melted out by now. As you know, that stretch from Panther Gap over to Mehrten is a real son of a gun in mixed conditions. Thanks for your report.