Yesterday I day hiked up through New Army Pass, and then on the ridge toward Cirque Peak. NAP had 2 small snowbanks, one easily bypassed by scrambling and the other one easy to walk over. The trail had numerous snow patches over 10,500', but was over 90% dry. I made it about 80% of the way to the summit of Cirque before hitting the upper limit of my turnaround time frame.
The low at Horseshoe Meadow was about 30 degrees, but it bottomed in the upper 50s Sun. night at Lone Pine campground where I stayed. It was perfect fall weather for hiking.
I didn't see anyone camping at the Cottonwood Lakes walk-in on Mon. morning, and there were only about 5 vehicles total in the parking lot. The only people I saw were a trio headed for Langley and one runner around sunset.
On Sun. I hiked to the ashram up Tuttle Creek canyon. I then went down to the bottom of the canyon and checked for use trails headed upstream but did not find any. I found evidence of travel on the ridge above the ashram but the route is steep.
