If you wind up going west past Lightning Lake and around the NW corner let us know how it looks. If the trail is in excellent shape then it might still be faster despite the extra miles.
We're planning 7 days from Leidy to Hayden Pass, last week in August. Tentative plan is: Leidy-Chepeta (day 1), Chepeta-Fox Lake (day 2), Fox Lake-western Painter Basin (day 3), Painter Basin-Kings Peak-Tungsten Lake (day 4), Tungsten Lake-Lake Fork junction (day 5), Tungsten lake - Helen lake (day 6), Helen lake-Hayden pass trailhead (day 7). We are planning to take the northern bypass loop around the majority of the Rock Creek burn. I'm planning for anything from cold & wet lows in the 30s to sunny & dry in the 70s. Any comments or suggestions? Appreciate inputs...
Also curious about any weather trends this year, for example has it been a "typical" monsoon year, or is another weird one, etc.? Probably won't affect my planning, but interested in whatever intel I can gather.
