Started at 0730, made it about 3mi (near the final creek crossing) around 1130, made it back to car at 1330. I took my time and a fair number of breaks, and had to break trail for a while there. Anyone coming up behind me should have an easier and faster time of it.
ROAD: I90 is bare and dry, but from the end of the off-ramp it's entirely packed snow/ice. Going up the slight incline to the trailhead was alright but going down it was easy to loose control.
TRAIL: no washouts, a few easily-navigated blowdowns. There was a little alder blocking the path right at the pond I took the time to clear. It isn't perfect, but it's not grabbing nearly as much now.
SNOW: Trail is 100% snow-covered. There's good bootpath until a little past the end of the open slopes around 2.5mi, and from that point I was breaking trail in snowshoes. I stopped at 3mi, had a snack break, and called it. A few people came up behind me in snowshoes and said they would break trail further than me, so little by little this trail will be snowshoe-able. I had microspikes on but most others got by fine without, and mine balled up badly. The path wasn't too slippery.
NOTE: if you do not have snowshoes please do not continue to hike past the bootpath; post-holing is slow, tiresome and makes you prone to injury, and the holes in the snow are annoying for snowshoers. I encountered a few people who were trying to keep going with just boots today, I've been that person in the past, and it's just not worth the effort. Thanks!
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