Mt Baxter via Baxter Pass

The road to the trailhead is well-maintained relative to other dirt roads on the east side - that said the maintenance stopped at the trailhead, as Baxter Pass Trail proved to be a tough affair with a spicy mix of stream crossings, bushwhacking and trail wash-outs. Combined with the high temps we were worked by the time we got to camp. Isaac and I hiked up to the cirque between Diamond and Black to asses conditions for a possible Monday climb of one of them. Day 2 was a long day over Baxter Pass the trail is surprisingly well-maintained up to and beyond the pass. As fine as the views are from the pass, it was disheartening to see the 1,000 ft. drop in elevation to Baxter Lake before the 2,000 ft. climb of Baxter (via Grasshopper Pass). Wonderful views from the summit. After the 2,000 ft. drop down, we took a nice long rest before making the slog back up and over Baxter Pass. All told it was 10+ mile day that took us 13 hours. Nothing left in the tank for a Monday climb so we just let the trail bludgeon us more back down to the cars.