Larry Creek Loop (Bitterroots) - March 12, 2023

We had a very pleasant hike with Dave and Julie, two old friends, and Vic A., who joins us sometimes. It was a beautiful Bluebird, blue sky day, with mild temperatures. The hike went off pretty much as planned in the proposed hike notice, except that when we reached the Larry Creek loop road we saw that it had not been groomed, and the higher part of the trail only had a few footprints. We found a melted off strip near a tree to have lunch. There I saw that most of the footprints went up the Larry Creek Road, which intersects the road going up from the campground, the normal way to drive up to the overlook when snow is gone. This would be an option for a loop hike sometime in the future. We decided to follow the road down, again skipping the highest loop. The wet, heavy, slushy snow was tiring, but we got back to the cars mid afternoon. We did 4.88 miles, according to a GPS, elevation gain was the same, in 2 and ½ hrs. Then we drove home. Vic went to the wildlife refuge, I hope he joins us again.
Steve Schombel.