 Soon the trees disappear completely as the trail climbs higher. Brightly colored shrubs make this high mountain trail more cheerful than Flattop from a few days earlier.  For some reason, giant cairns mark the way here -- even though it's relatively easy to see the trail as it goes straight up. These extra-large cairns may be to help differentiate them from other piles of natural rocks that cover this landscape -- or perhaps to help winter hikers in the snow to find their way.
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