Wow, that was tougher than I expected! The route was much snowier than I expected--maybe hiking one week after a record-breaking atmospheric river storm wasn't the best idea after all. I had convinced myself that the Glass Mountains would be mostly melted based on regional webcams, but most of the forested areas were still 6-8 inches deep with rapidly melting slushy snow. This made walking much more strenuous, and I kind of forgot that my boots aren't waterproof anymore either, so I had wet feet for the last half of the route. I ended up finishing about 2 hours slower than I hoped, but it was still quite a big physical effort to fight through the uphill snow post-holing.
This hike was completely solo/unsupported, meaning I carried everything I used from the start at the Watterson Troughs Road to the finish at the Bald Mountain lookout platform (I carried 3 liters of water and did not resupply until reaching my bike). I drove down from Reno early in the morning (got up at 1 a.m.!), then started hiking at 5:14:48 a.m., making quick progress up mostly dry roads to reach Cone Peak shortly before sunrise. Watching dawn break across the White Mountain Range and seeing first light hit the Sierra Crest was amazing! Sadly, the route started to get snowy between Cone and Wilfred, so I had to start seeking out drier variations when possible (side-hilling around west slopes whenever possible). I nearly gave up after suffering through a super snowy ascent of Kelty Peak, but decided to keep pushing since there were visible bare patches along the higher ridge. I really enjoyed seeing all the cool obsidian chunks throughout this section of the traverse. The weather was amazing throughout--bluebird skies, light breeze, cold enough to need a down coat up high but warm enough for short sleeves down low.
Glass Mountain Ridge had great views, with shining snow-clad mountains on all sides, and after another steep snowy push I was taking my first real break on top of the Glass Mountains high-point. I made a quick trip to Glass Mountain's north peak, then post-holed down the terribly snowy north slopes and trekked through rather boring forest to Sentinel Meadows Peak. There were some occasional views of Long Valley far below, and cool twisted trees, but otherwise this section was unremarkable. Eventually, I reached the network of Forest Service roads, and wrung the water out of my socks/insoles for a few relieving miles of dry road hiking. Regrettably, the roads became quite snowy again for the last couple miles through the recently burnt forest, until I finally hit the mostly melted road up Bald Mountain. I tagged the natural high-point and reached the viewing platform at 4:56:33 p.m. (note that I record my FKT start/stop times with pictures at the start/finish after/before starting my GPS track, so the GPS time is slightly longer).
I recovered for a bit in the cool summit log cabin, enjoying the sunset views. I hiked out to the Owens River Road, where I had stashed a mountain bike and extra water, then biked about 22.5 miles back to the car, connection the Owens River Road, Benton Crossing Road, and Watterson Troughs Road in about 3.5 hours (very slow, as I was beat, and biking on gravel/sand is annoying). It was almost 11 p.m. by the time I was ready to drive, so I slept in the car at the Watterson Troughs/Benton Crossing junction (surprisingly cold for the elevation). The next morning, I watched sunrise splash across the snowy Sierra and soaked in the Shepherd Hot Springs, relishing the view of the Glass Mountains spreading out across the horizon. I think a visit to the Long Valley Caldera hot springs should be a mandatory part of this route--it was awesome, and almost made up for the snowy misery the day before.
Parting thoughts: The section of this route from Cone Peak to Glass Mountain is awesome and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a mellow off-trail ridge-run with beautiful views. The last 17 miles are a slog with occasionally decent views. I think it would be a lot more fun to do an out-and-back from Cone to Glass Mountain, though the full range traverse is undeniably aesthetic from a geographic perspective. The obsidian bombs make the Glass Mountains unique, and the views of the White Mountain Range, Sierra Range, Long Valley, and Great Basin ridges are amazing. I think I would have enjoyed this route a lot more if it were dry, but the deep slushy snow was demoralizing and slowed me down a ton. Thanks to Jessica Johnson for sharing this cool route. And most of all, thanks to my family and friends who supported me remotely on this Great Snow Slog of 2021!