by zippetydude » Thu Feb 13, 2020 5:12 pm
Hi and welcome! The trail is fairly easy to find nowadays, in years past it was hard to find at several points, but once you get going, even if the trail splits, the two routes tend to come back together and all the paths lead back to one single route. The tricky part that you may run into during that time-frame is snow. If we get significant snow, the route can be obscured entirely somewhere around 7,000' and you would have no chance of finding it in heavy snow. If that happens, you will have done a great job scouting the route for the next visit... The other possible difficulty with snow is that it can go through a freeze-thaw cycle and turn icy. If that happens, there are places where if you slip, it could be catastrophic. A hiker died a few years ago as a result of a slip while on or near the traverse. If the trail is clear of snow, you will most likely be fine. And, since you do marathons, if you have to turn around (snow has turned me around more than once) you will have plenty of energy and cool temperatures so you can make it back down safe and sound. Good luck and have fun!
z