Might just be my new favorite hike! Gorgeous views at almost every turn. I arrived to the parking area mentioned in the description at about 9:15 AM - there were 3 other cars, but only room for about 8 or so with the snow piled up as it was, so was glad I got there when I did. In walking to the start of the trail on Forest Rd 116, I noticed several other cars parked on Forest Rd 116 before the gate, so seemed to be a more popular trail than the initial parking area let on.
That being said, I encountered only a few people along the trail. On the forest road part of the hike, there's plenty of room to social distance. After turning off at the Hex Mountain trail marker, not so much, but most everyone had masks and kept distance where possible.
The entire trail from start to finish is snow covered. I left the snowshoes in the car and glad I didn't haul them since they really weren't necessary. As it currently stands, the snow is quite compacted on the boot path - I put on microspikes at the Hex Mountain trail marker since I needed more traction with the steep incline, but they did the job just fine. It probably would have been more fun to have the snowshoes on the way down though! They're definitely needed if you want to go off-trail. I can imagine with a few more snowfalls, snowshoes may become more necessary for up and down.
Really enjoyed the walk and the views. Roundtrip to/from the car, I clocked 8.37 miles, 2,921ft elevation gain.
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