Sunrise run up to Mailbox this morning. Clouds were high up and views were promising. Snow-free first 1mile or so, muddy in some areas. Threw on a pair of spikes once solid snow began. Met up with few other hikers at the top, surprisingly quite a few people were up this early on this cold Satuday. Great view of Mt Rainer and surrounding mountains from the top today. Love having this trail in my backyard.

Started late at 3pm. Trail is muddy almost all the time. I did hit first snow couple hundred feet below intersection with the new trail. Trail is snow covered all the way from boulder field to the summit. I didn't use any traction on my way up but spikes can be helpful. Snow wasn't too deep, hiking shoes worked fine for me. I met last hikers for the day at boulder field and had summit for myself. Spent maybe 5 min on the summit taking photos, putting layers/gloves and spikes on. It started to snow heavily, I couldn't see my boot track on the way down, most likely it will be much more snow tomorrow. Descended old trail with headlamp. 

Poles, spikes, gaiters highly recommended.

• RT Distance: 5.5 Miles
• Elevation: 4000ft
• Time with breaks 04h 12m
• Moving Time: 03h 00m

Got to the upper lot at about 930am. Plenty of cars in the lot, but still several spots left. There are some muddy spots at the start of the trail, but it is pretty well-traveled. It seems like a lot of the snow has melted since the last reports. Snow started about 1.75 miles in. I was wearing the Hoka Speedgoats and never needed to use my microspikes on this hike as the snow was pretty grippy. I ended up giving them to my friend me whose shoes were not so good in the snow. The path was well-traveled in the snow and caused no issues. Very busy on the trail and a little chilly at the top, but had amazing views today.

We found microspikes helpful/necessary. Did Old Trail up, new down. Both lovely. If you lost your water bottle or glove on the trail, check the gate!

A moody weather day on Mailbox with JeremyAnderson8 to work off the Christmas calories. Blue skies and sun kept peeking through the whole day. Summit was cold, but no wind. Unfortunately the clouds moved in as we sat and ate our lunches, so we didn't stay long. 

Arrived at the upper lot at 9am, lots of cars, but plenty of spots left too. Restrooms open. Hiked up and down the old trail. It's in great shape, just a few spots of mud here and there down low. Snow on the ground starts about 1/3 of the way up but the trail is tracked out for a while. Hiking on snow started around 2/3 of the way up. Looks to be 2-4" of new snow on a hard crust near the top. Key thing to be careful of was slippery tree root sections. We both had mountaineering boots on, so didn't need spikes for the way up. On the way down I wore them until the snow ran out. Old man, don't want to slip and fall. Ran into plenty of people going up and down, even more so near the summit. It was a busy day. Unfortunately there are a number of aggressive camp robber birds at the summit, likely due to all the people feeding them. They are big. They attempted to come straight for food even as we were holding it. I had one briefly land on my head. Good times! Wore all my upper layers for a while on the way down as well as gloves, since I got cold in 15 mins sitting on the summit. 

Stats: 5.4 miles, 4000' gain, 4:22 total time, 0:32 stopped time

Gear: Lightweight mountaineering boots, poles, microspikes. Brought gaiters but didn't use, the trail is well trodden.