Mailbox Peak - Old Trail — Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025

A moody weather day on Mailbox with JeremyAnderson8 to work off the Christmas calories. Blue skies and sun kept peeking through the whole day. Summit was cold, but no wind. Unfortunately the clouds moved in as we sat and ate our lunches, so we didn't stay long. 

Arrived at the upper lot at 9am, lots of cars, but plenty of spots left too. Restrooms open. Hiked up and down the old trail. It's in great shape, just a few spots of mud here and there down low. Snow on the ground starts about 1/3 of the way up but the trail is tracked out for a while. Hiking on snow started around 2/3 of the way up. Looks to be 2-4" of new snow on a hard crust near the top. Key thing to be careful of was slippery tree root sections. We both had mountaineering boots on, so didn't need spikes for the way up. On the way down I wore them until the snow ran out. Old man, don't want to slip and fall. Ran into plenty of people going up and down, even more so near the summit. It was a busy day. Unfortunately there are a number of aggressive camp robber birds at the summit, likely due to all the people feeding them. They are big. They attempted to come straight for food even as we were holding it. I had one briefly land on my head. Good times! Wore all my upper layers for a while on the way down as well as gloves, since I got cold in 15 mins sitting on the summit. 

Stats: 5.4 miles, 4000' gain, 4:22 total time, 0:32 stopped time

Gear: Lightweight mountaineering boots, poles, microspikes. Brought gaiters but didn't use, the trail is well trodden.