This was a cold, snowy, and beautiful hike with fresh snow from last week's storm and low temps!
Road conditions: The highway was mostly snow/ice free except for some unexpected ice chunks in the tunnels, and the trailhead parking was snow-covered (no trouble parking in a Subaru outback). We were the only car at 10:15 when we arrived, and one other group arrived while we were hiking.
Trail conditions:
The trail ranged from having a light dusting of snow to 6-8 inches of fresh powder, with several ice-covered sections and sometimes frozen unstable ice crystals beneath the snow (see photos for examples). We were able to walk on snow around the ice-covered trail sections. There were several downed trees that we went over or under, and there was no bridge for crossing the stream. We walked upstream and scooted across a log to cross the stream, as all the rocks were coated in ice. I wore microspikes and was glad to have them, but my boyfriend didn't need any (he has quite good footwork). Gaiters would have been helpful up higher in the light powdery snow, but it is such a short hike that it wasn't bad getting a little snow in my boots. Took us about 2 hours with a fair bit of time spent deciding how to cross the stream. The views along the way and up top were gorgeous!
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