For the first time ever, I'd wished I had snowshoes on Mailbox, but that was only because (in another first for me on this trail), I was the very first one up the hill.*
With the privilege of being first comes the responsibility of breaking trail through drifts of powdery snow that went up to my hips at times. It less resembled hiking and more resembled swimming. Specifically, the crawl stroke. What else do you do when the snow won't support your weight - stop and turn around?
Ha! As if.
Snow started at the top of the root ladder section and was continuous from there to the summit. It got deep at the top of the rock field. I imagine by now it's compacted pretty well. I tried to stay to the route of the trail as much as possible in hopes of keeping us from trampling the vegetation hibernating under its winter coat, although I had to pick shallower snow at times for reasons of self preservation. I'd recommend micro-spikes for anyone who isn't the very first one up.
The wind was howling. It was definitely an alpine sort of day up there. Finally the time of year when only the die-hards head up here.
*Except the time I headed up at 3am to see the lunar eclipse. This time around, I started up around 7:30. It dawned on me as I hit the first snow that there were no tracks ahead of me. That stayed true until the junction with the new trail. Those tracks persisted about 3/4's of the way through the rock field, then petered out. I later found their owners taking a side route through the trees. I'm not sure it was any better of a strategy. The snow was deep in places, but the rocks aren't fully covered, so no matter which way you went, it was a mix of post-holing, slipping, snow-plowing, and swearing. Lots and lots of swearing.
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