Midday start under blue skies from the spot on the side of 410. There were 2 other cars and we saw both of those groups within the first 1.5 miles, then had the trail to ourselves. Trail up to the viewpoint at 2.9 miles from the car was in great shape, aside from the very defined biker shortcuts. Not even mush debris on the trail. About 500 feet up from the viewpoint is a downed tree which can be crawled under or climbed over. 0.3 more miles up lies a bit messier problem. There's a downed tree about a foot off the ground, so you can't go under, and big enough you can't step over. It's very long so you can't go below the trail to cross with any more success. And it's on a steep pitch. There's is solid bark to grab onto and climb over though. There were a lot of branches from a second tree, but I dislodged and cleared most of them.
Around 3.75 miles - 4350 ft - we could feel the cold wind that always seems to be around there. We were surprised no snow yet at all. By 4.0 miles there was a bit of snow and ice. I stayed uphill from the ice and maybe sank in just above my ankles. It was patchy at this point and fine without traction. We did not go any further, so I cannot report on anything above. The south-facing hills across the way did have a lot of white though.
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