9/20, Sunday. Finally the smoke was cleared after a few days of continuous rain. Still raining Sunday morning. Headed out late. Hoping to see some good fall color - still too early. Didn't get to the trailhead until 14:30. 30+ cars. Being this late, found a parking spot close to TH.
Precious fresh air! No need to hurry on this short trail. Looked for mushrooms. Recent rain made the leaves very wet. Quite crowded. A lot of devil's club. At Heliotrope Creek, the water is high enough, that hikers going both up and down looking for a good crossing. I wore my new low-rise waterproof shoes. Didn't bring gaiters. So wasn't able to cross without getting my shoes wet. Probably should just cross in my bare feet. 
I headed up, and up, hoping for smaller braids. I was up too much, that I abandoned rejoining the main trail, just walk up the ridge by the creek. Eventually, I hit another trail. A large cairn on the top of a ridge. Then the trail became faint. 
I walked east, crossed a couple of small streams. Saw a few camp sites with rock walls. I wish I had brought micro-spikes, so I could walk up higher on to the ice.We only decided to go to Heliotrope Ridge at the Glacier ranger station. So, no map was downloaded. I only remembered that the trail is short. I wasn't sure where I should go, so just walked east and higher. Quite enjoyed the solitude, and scenary. Still some yellow asters and white yarrows in bloom. Lots of lupine in seeds. Must be pretty early when they were in flower. No huckleberries here :(
I turned around ~4:30pm, concerned that my partner, who successfully crossed Heliotrope Creek must be worried. I couldn't see the main trail from where I was. On the way down, I followed the track. When it hit the main trail, I saw the sign "climber's route". So the purple is roughly where I went. The saterlite overlay on GPS map clearly shows that the creek misplaced. I went back to the creek crossing, met a group of 6 climbers. Waited by the creek for a bit, but soon realized that it was late (5:30pm). So, quickly walked back down trail, and met up with my partner shortly before TH. All was good.
Step count: 20K.
