We arrived at Longmire a little after 9 a.m. - we were initially told the gate would probably be open around 10 a.m., but after checking in at 10 a.m. were told maybe more like 11 a.m. given how much snow they needed to plow. Know they were doing good work but we were ready to get outside. We decided not to wait for the gate and headed back to Kautz Creek to take the trail toward Indian Henry's Hunting Ground for as long as we were having a good time!
We ended up hiking in 3 miles before turning around and making our way back to our car. We passed two couples on our way out - otherwise had the forest to ourselves.
The trail was in great condition and started to get snowy a couple miles in as we started gaining elevation. We used our trekking poles but never ended up pulling on our ice trekkers - regular trail shoes were fine as far as we went.
It was a lovely, peaceful hike with big, soft, quiet snow coming down between the tree branches. Really wonderful hike that ended up being 6.1 miles, 1,865 feet of gain. Took us 3 hours and 18 mins, with 8 minutes of stopping time.
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