Timberline to Zig Zag Canyon not snow-free; TDH moonlight

[quisquose]

I just discovered this website on Friday when I was searching the web for updated trail information -- what a great resource! Thank you!

Unfortunately I still managed to pick the wrong hike on Saturday 7/19. I'd read the reports here that Top Spur to McNeil Point was basically boots-only hikeable now, so I assumed that Timberline Lodge to Paradise Park would be just fine since it's south-facing. Nope: the first 1/2 mile of the Timberline Trail was slippery melting snow almost the whole way... and then I ran into two folks with snowshoes and poles coming back in, and they said they got as far as Zig Zag Canyon, near which was still some apparently unpassable (steep) snow.

They suggested I try Tom Dick and Harry (it was already late afternoon), and that ended up being just perfect. I not only made it to the ridge a good two hours before sunset, I was pleasantly surprised later that night by a just-past-full moon bathing the ridge in moonlight.

[kwpapke]

I tried going the other way from Burnt Lake on Saturday and had to turn back about 1/2 mile from the Zigzag/Burnt Lk x-ing. It wasn't really snowshoe conditions, but a pair of crampons or Kahtoola spikes woulda made it more passable.

--Kurt