We started our hike around 8:30am on Sunday. The road is gated right after the Hummocks lot, so we parked there and walked up the road for another mile to the Coldwater trailhead. There were 5 other cars in the Hummocks lot when we started and more than 30 other cars there when we finished our hike around 2pm.
This hike was great for solitude; we saw only two other groups the whole time. We also saw elk, a grouse doing his mating call, and lots of smaller birds. The wind was really strong along the ridge; definitely bring layers for this one. There are snowfields starting around 3.25 miles in (measuring from the Hummocks lot). We put on microspikes for the steeper crossings and also used poles; I wouldn't have felt comfortable crossing without those. Conditions could change a lot over the next week with continued sunny weather. We went about half a mile past the intersection with the Boundary Trail and then turned around because the snow was very deep and we couldn't see any sign of the trail reappearing again.
For anyone debating between this trail and the Hummocks Loop, you get much better views from the Hummocks Loop, and the trails are roughly the same length once you add in the road walk to get to the Coldwater trailhead.
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