My sister and I went on our first snow backpacking trip! After passing 3 cars that decided to turn around before the trailhead, we opted to park 1.5 miles from trailhead. In hindsight, my car could have made it, but better safe than sorry. The road was covered in snow and was a slushy mess. Definitely recommend 4WD vehicle with high clearance.
The trail was almost completely covered in snow, minus a few spots where the streams had melted it away. We used our micro spikes for traction and had our waterproof hiking boots which worked great - no need for snowshoes at this time. Waterproof shoes and micro spikes are a must though.
Our hike in was rainy, but we had a few little peek a boos of the sun. The trail is very pretty right now with all of the snow! There was one log down that we had to climb over about 1 mile into the trail but it was not hard to get over it. Only passed 7 people and one dog on our way in.
There is about 1 ft of snow by the lake and the lake is frozen - very beautiful!
Made camp right by the lake and enjoyed the evening making dinner and hanging out. We were able to filter water from a stream that was only a few minute walk from our camp spot. It rained until about 3 am. Enjoyed a leisure morning drinking hot coffee in our tent before packing up. We lucked out and the rain held off while we packed, and our entire hike back. We passed 5 people on our way down.
A nice family was leaving as we got to the parking lot and offered us a ride back to our car. They saved us a 1.5 mile walk on the slushy road, so a huge thank you to them!
Overall, we had a an awesome time for our first snow backpacking trip!
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