After a reasonably restful night at the RV park, we headed out north to Girabaldi Lake for a hike to the ridge. This hike starts at the base of a mountain range and goes up in a series of switchbacks to a meadow with an elevation change of 3000 feet. The trail is a huge highway, well maintained and impossible to miss. Steve estimated it would take us 4 1/2 hr to reach the meadow and we did it in 2 hrs and 20 mins. The relentless uphill really drove home the fact that I’ve been on the injured reserve list for a while and don’t have my strength or stamina back! Soon after the junction to the meadow we saw snow on the trail. What a cute novel thing, snow in late June, we said to ourselves. The further we went the more snow we encountered until we reached the meadow and found it completely snow covered. We had lunch at the back country camping station and met a fellow who had been camping up there. He showed us that the local Whisky Jacks (Grey Jays) expect an offering of snacks. They are hefty little birds with bold attitudes!
We discovered an issue with our camera once we had been hiking a bit, we had forgotten to charge it! Luckily we had the GoPro so you can enjoy the slight fisheye distortion of the pictures.

From the meadow to the ridge we had anticipated another 2000 ft of elevation change and a hike of about 3 hrs. This estimate was made before we encountered the never ending snow field! The weather was gorgeous and really warm but the hiking through the snow made for really slow going. It was here we discovered that Steve had lost his sunglasses somewhere on the trail. His McGyver traits kicked in and he used his bug net as a SPF and glare shield for his face! We lost the trail several times, following the footprints of others and checking the GPS often. Once we cleared the field we continued to wind our way as best we could along the trail, traversing the snow ever upward! In spots we found blooming wildflowers, giving a hint of the spectacular beauty that is on the way in few weeks. At the next trail junction we made our best guess and headed up. On of the best and worst thing about a GoPro is you never know what pictures you are taking. Steve was trying to set the timer for a shot of the two of us when we captured the picture below. It sums up the day in nicely!

This last push was hard going. The snow was softer and the incline was way steeper than before. The expected time of 3 hrs came and went and around 4 hrs we finally made the summit. That first glance made all of the endless slogging through snow worth it!

The way down was in theory easier but at this point we’d been going for almost 6 1/2 hrs uphill and I was pretty exhausted. Add to that my soaked feet and what you won’t see here are lots of pictures! We moved as quickly as we could down the mountain. Four hours later we reached the car and my feet groaned in relief!
Summary: Not the hardest thing I’ve done but probably the hardest hike. Steve estimated it would be about 16 miles round trip and I logged 21 on my FitBit. The trail website says a bit over 18 miles. Things I would do differently next time is to take my gaiters and crampons if the snow is still on. A spare pair of socks would have been nice. Not sure I could have done anything to make my body not hurt so bad on the way down except hike more often!