The gate is closed o Mowich Lake rd, just passed Paul Peak Trailhead. I drove my Kia Soul and used the parking at Paul Peak TH, having no issues with the drive. There was only one truck there before me. Yes there is giant potholes, but all were easy to navigate, knowing where my tires are. The was no snow, until about half mile passed the gate, and it was melting off leftovers. So weird. I was following what appeared to be 2 men's boot path, so I figured d see them coming down at some point. By around 2mi, there was probably around 4 inches of snow. I took the Grindstone route up. A couple muddy spots, but in relatively great condition. Once I hit the final stretch of Mowich Lake rd, I switched to snowshoes. I enjoyed a little visit down to the lake and further along the shore before turning around and heading toward Tolmie. I was at just over 4 miles for the start of that. I also switched back to boots for the next part of the hike. Coming up on Eunice, snowshoes were again necessary, and that's when I finally ran into the 2 gentlemen coming down. I then knew I probably had the rest of the day to myself. I snowshoed a big "NEW YEAR" into the snow at Eunice lake and headed up for the lookout. It has been pretty cloudy most of the day around Tahoma, But it cleared for me, just after arriving, and just before sunset. the mountain was SO CLEAR!! It was also of course quite windy and very cold up top, but I still opted to switch into my NYE dress for some photos 😂 my phone died and I was freezing so I packed up to head down while the sun was setting. It was absolutely gorgeous down on the switchbacks above Eunice. I also couldn't see my "NEW YEAR" in the snow below because I took too long getting up top and it was all shaded, dangit.
The trip down in the dark was cold but absolutely wonderful and peaceful 😍 my entire trip was just under 15 miles, and some of that was a little backtracking because my dumb face set my axe down for photos and I didn't realize it for a bit so I went back for it, haha. Good job, dumdum 🤦♀️🤣
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