For many hikers, early spring—when daylight outpaces nighttime and the snowpack starts to melt—calls to mind swarms of merciless biting insects and ankle-deep mud wallows. But spring has plenty more going for it. Wildflowers explode across the mountains and deserts in bright rainbow colors; wildlife becomes more active, waking from hibernation or returning from far-away migrations; and your fellow outdoorsmen—mountain bikers, horseback riders and the like—haven't yet hit the trails, leaving you alone to enjoy the solitude of deep wilderness.