Mount Rose Day Hike

Started at 8:15am just as sun was coming up. Trail was great as usual with only a couple small downed trees across the trail from the weekend rain storms. These were both very easy to step over. Reached Horse Camp by about 9:30am for the first break. Took the left fork of the trail headed for the summit. After a quarter mile from Horse camp, we reached the snow line and began following the old, crusty, compacted path in the snow. Was on snow for the rest of the hike to the summit. Only brought microspikes, but wished that we had brought snowshoes because post-holing became a problem if stepping on soft snow. Was up to my hip a couple times. The steep bit 50 ft from the summit was the most challenging without snowshoes as the post-holing was tediously energy draining. Made it to the summit at around 11:00am. Took a few summit photos and headed back down the way we came and didn't follow the full clockwise path. The descent was a little easier as the post-holing felt more like plunge stepping now. Amazing how much the snow has melted over the past week, but I believe the rain over the weekend caused most of that. No issues encountered on the way down. Reached the parking lot by 1:00pm.