Hey I know there is a ton of snow this year, but is there anywhere that may be melted out by late June? I live in Stanley in the summer (I'm not over there yet, however) and my brother will be visiting me and we wanted to do some backpacking. Are there any good valley hikes which loop around without high passes? Or just some hotter regions that mealt out earlier? I would figure Pios, Sawtooths, Whiteclouds, Salmon River mtns are all pretty well snowed in until early-mid July. We could go anywhere from Yellowstone to Frank Church to S. Idaho, but didn't want to be out for more than 5-6 days. Was thinking someplace down near the Owyhee but I'm concerned it is just rangeland dominated by cattle and rattlesnakes.
Was also thinking Yellowstone would be great, but I don't know if everywhere will be either flooded or snow covered. And I don't know the park, been there as a kid and done some backpacking, but I don't remember the specific regions. Read through the Yellowstone in June thread and it sounds like Gardiner-Mammoth area might be a possibility. But we don't want to get mobbed by mosquitoes.
Sounds like Frank Church might be too snowed in also, but I'm going to investigate a bit more.
Thanks.
