Wonderful day for a ride on the ridge! Concerns about snow at elevation basically evaporated once we hit the trail. Although we did hit some (mostly around .75 - 1 mile in) it was easily navigable and rode most of it on the way down. Fair amount of animal evidence and extremely low evidence of people being up there this year. Had the feeling we were the first bikes up there of the season so we sang most of the 1.2 miles up to the lake and back around the elk meadow just in case.

Trail was in very nice shape however there are dozens of snow bent saplings covering the new singletrack connection from the road to trail conversion on Phase 2. We climbed over all of it but was large enough and fresh enough you can't clear without a saw. All north facing aspects after Phase 1 were clear so maybe two more weeks and you'd be able to ride from the lot to the lake with no dismounts.

Good plan, great day, awesome fun for a free Monday!