Not knowing what I was getting into, I parked below the gate and strapped snowshoes to my day pack.
Snow at the base of the road is at about 1-2 inches right now. At about 3600 is started to deepen, and by 4000 ft was over my ankles.
The road was in the shade, quite a lot of it through the old fire zone. I never did get much of a view. Mostly it is just a demanding training opportunity- my math shows an average 10% grade from the bottom to my turn around at 4672, about 3.3 miles up.
At my turn around, I spotted a wildlife trail heading over the nose of the ridge and decided to check it out, hoping for a moment of sun and possibly a view. I was triply blessed- the wildlife tracks included coyote, snowshoe hare, deer and elk. Evidently they all enjoy the opportunity to look south and bask in the sun, too. ;-)
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