Cooper River, Cooper River Snowshoe — Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023

Glad we stuck it out. When my group arrived today we almost turned around because of the rain/snow mix, but just a few miles in it switched to light snow. About 33 degrees. 
Route 903 had some snow/ice patches along the way but not too bad and they maintain the roads well. But the trailhead parking lot is closed to vehicles, only snowmobiles could enter. 
Word of caution! Be super careful where you park because they (wrongfully) issued expensive parking tickets in the area. And be sure to bring your pass. 
The trail itself is not super hard as elevation gain is low, however it’s a long trek. A total of 10 miles round trip, took us about 5 hours to complete with all the ups and downs and lots of pics. There was a huge tree down that you’ll have to crawl under and a few areas that were very narrow for snowshoes on the slick steep edges along the ridge. I fell a few times. Snow was mostly compact. 
The best views of the river started around mile 3.75. Did not see any wildlife, only rabbit prints.