I heard the lower gates were open on Harbor Mountain a bit early (the sign at the bottom had said they would be open on May 5th), so decided to take advantage of a sunny day and get some easier conditioning in by walking up the road.
We were able to drive to the second gate and walked up from there. Small patches of snow were on the road in places, and much of the road was covered in a thin layer just before the parking area at the third gate.
On our way up, we were passed by someone on a motorcycle. We later visited with him briefly, and he said he was with the forest service checking out whether the second gate could be opened on the 5th.
From the third gate up to the viewpoint switchback, there were patches clear of snow, but mostly the road covered in up to a foot or so of snow. Rowan and I made it up to the viewpoint and took a break there.
I took a short look just past the viewpoint before we headed back down.
On the bridge-like part of the road just below our stopping point, I noticed an interesting pattern of snow melting away from the edges less where the bolts were. Rowan and I took a couple of moments to consider why that might have been the case, but didn’t come up with anything conclusive. [Update: later I had an idea of the reason and was able to confirm on a subsequent visit)
Curious about short cutting the long switchback, I opted to drop down into the forest and head straight down the hill. Rowan didn’t want to go this route and decided to run down the road.
Though it was a direct route down, it was farther than I had thought it would be. In the lower section, things were pretty wet with some boggy forest conditions.
I made it back down to the road between the second and third gates, and it was only a couple of minutes before Rowan caught up with me. She probably would have been faster than me were it not for the snow in the upper section.
