Early June Thru Hike

imported
#1

My buddy and I are going to start the trail early June. I hear its been a milder winter. Just want to see if it is feasible. We would be hiking West.

Jeffrey

#2

We just got 15 inches in 48hrs, which was much needed!

Assuming you’re talking about without post-holing for any extended period of time, it’s still too early to tell. If you’re prepared for a little snow hiking, I bet you’d be fine in early June 99% of the years.

We could/will hopefully get 100 inches in April–hey, I can hope! I’ve got a month of snowboarding left.

It also depends on May temperatures. But even on an average snow year, like this one, mid april is generally regarded as an earlyish start time to experience minimal snow hassle.

A good thing to remember is that ski resorts are all open until the end of April. You hike directly through two of them after ~a week on the trail (Copper and Breck). May is formal mud season with the melt in full effect. So, by June you could just experience a very wet muddy trail in early June…sometimes, it snows a lot in May.

Nickoli

#3

Here’s the link to the snow data for the weather stations nearest to the trail. Most of them are at 30-50 inches still, but that’s a good spot to check as we get into May.

http://www.coloradotrail.org/snowandweather.html

Nickoli

#4

Last year, Segment 8 up to Searle Pass to Elk Ridge to Kokomo Pass wasn’t passable (without serious postholing) until very late-June. I went through around July 1 and did some postholing up to Searle Pass. There was more snow last year, but it snows a lot in April (and into May) which can change the situation significantly. Check the Fremont Pass Snotel site which I have found to be the best indicator of snow depth in Segment 8. SJ Ron :slight_smile:

San Juan Ron

#5

Just wanted to add that sections of Segment 7 on the north side of the Tenmile Range actually had more snow last year than Segment 8 (7-6.0 to 7-8.0). SJ Ron

San Juan Ron