Went for a nice hike at Cooper River yesterday. When I hiked on January 23, the trail was well packed down and clear enough to follow. I hiked with microspikes and was comfortable throughout; I didn't need the poles or snowshoes I had with me. However, the area got some additional snow on Jan. 24 so conditions may have changed.

There are a few places where the trail becomes a bit hard to follow, so keep a close eye on others' tracks and prints. We saw very few other people after about the first mile, and enjoyed the snowy woods all to ourselves.

The trail does seem to be longer than the length given on the WTA website (4.0 mi) so block a bit more time than you may have otherwise. We didn't make it all the way to the lake as we were concerned with running out of daylight. 

Parking was not an issue when we arrived at noon at the Salmon La Sac road. There were many cross country skiers and snowmobilers at Salmon La Sac.

Beautiful snowshoe trail! We didn't make it all the way to Cooper Lake because we started hiking a little too late in the day, but it was still worth it. The trail is peaceful once you get off the road and away from the snowmobiles. We only saw a handful of people the whole time we were hiking, so it's a great trail to get away from the crowds.

We actually found micro spikes more useful the day we hiked because the trail was narrow and the snow was pretty compacted. Snow conditions obviously change daily during the winter, so pay attention to recent snowfall when you go to assess what might be better for you to use.

We parked along the road that is the Salmon La Sac Sno Park. Be cognizant of where to park and where not to park: this helps the snowplows do their thing to maintain the area as the winter season progresses. 

We watched about 12 snowmobilers prepping their gear as we got our micro spikes (Yak Trax), etc. The trail directs hikers one way and snowmobilers another way so we found our quiet soon after the trailhead.

We hiked in without our snowshoes and there was enough hardpacked snow to make it a worthwhile 4 or 5 mi hike in the bright sunshine and cold. Certainly, we had fun post-holing a couple of times.

We saw under 10 hikers on the trail other than us today.

Parked on the side of 903 - Sno-Park Pass is required, so be mindful! We walked about 1/4 mile to the Salmon La Sac road, which hasn't been plowed. It's about a mile and a half from there to the trailhead. It's almost walkable with microspikes, but we were wearing snowshoes. Once you get on the trail, it's been tamped down nicely, but the trail corridor is extremely narrow - barely the width of my two snowshoes. The snow ends where water covers the trail, but there are social trails going up and over those, so you can avoid them if you're wearing snowshoes. We only got about two miles down the trail before turning around. It was a gorgeous day!

Had a beautiful sunny snowshoeing day with my husband and daughter. The road to the parking lot was perfectly clear of snow, though quite icy in spots. We were met by two friendly park rangers who were checking for valid parking passes when we arrived. They provided us with a nice trail map for the Cooper River, Waptus River and Pollalie Ridge snowshoeing trails. There were at least 15 snowmobile trailers in the parking lot, but we only saw a few snowmobiles along our way. Snowmobiles keep to separate trails from foot traffic. The ranger advised us that there was no avalanche danger at this time, but they are expecting snow next week so avalanche danger will increase with the new snowfall on top of the existing pack. There was plenty of snow (at least 3 ft) on the trails for x-country skiing and snowshoeing. We did run into small impassable rivers a couple of times, but we were easily able to turn around and follow other routes. We only saw three other small groups of 2-3 people out on the trails the entire afternoon. If you're looking for great snow and no one around, these trails are perfect.