Alpine Scramble - Mount Ararat

We started out at 7:30am on the Kautz creek trail, which was snow free and generally in very good shape.  We hit snow at 4800'.  Snowshoes and crampons were not needed at all during the day (we brought just crampons).  

The route was very straight forward using existing GPX tracks from peakbagger.   Just before the base of the final climb to the summit, we ran into a considerable number of bear tracks, likely made the evening  before it appeared.  

The final climb to the summit was all snow with excellent step kicking conditions.  Views at the summit were perfect. Sunny and warm.  The assent took approximately 4 hours at a moderate to slightly slower pace than normal.  

The descent back was in increasingly sloppy snow conditions but with minimal issues.  We arrived back at the cars at approximately 2:30 pm. Above 4800' we did not see anyone the entire time.  Below 4800 on the return we ran into 3 small groups.  

A very fun day without any crowds despite it being memorial day weekend. 

On the drive out of the park at 3pm there was an approximately 5 mile line backed up waiting to get into the park.  Why anyone would sit in a line like that with zero chance for parking anywhere in the park is beyond me.