After 8 miles through the clouds and rain, we dropped packs and set up camp at McKinley Springs. The trail up to San Rafael traverses high on the north face of the peak. There was still about 3 inches of snow up there which made the traverse slightly more complicated without traction, but we were able to cross without too much difficulty. Strangely, the named summit doesn't seem to be the highest point along the ridge. We were lucky; the clouds broke for about half an hour while we on the summit, affording us views of the San Rafael wilderness, the Hurricane Deck formation, and the main ridge of the Sierra Madre to the north.