We had to park just off the freeway since the road to the trailhead was closed for logging. We've done this before, though last time the road was closed due to a massive washout. The only suckers this closure was affecting were those of us foolish enough to hike during the week. The trailhead was eerily empty as we walked through. The trails were also empty, but that's to be expected. Not many go up P3 at night.

Half way up the open, grassy slope we started hitting fresh snow. Yet another surprise storm had dumped a couple of inches. Even up high it had been wet and blown so the rocks and few trees were coated on only one side. Against the blue sky it was pretty, but cold. Especially for those of us who climbed in shorts and a t-shirt. (It made sense lower down. Not so much up high.)

From the top the views were much, much better than last weekend. Web and Defiance were both colored by the setting sun and the summit shot didn't suffer from the goofiness of the previous week. (It must have been Rich's fault.)

The trip down wasn't nearly as fast, but was without incident. By the time we were back at the cars we were mostly beat. Once again, I skipped the after-party. One of these days I'll be rested enough to sacrifice sleep for it, but not now.

Total distance was 5.3 miles horizontal and 3,500 feet vertical.