Today the temperatures were heading into the 50's, and I decided to get some air. Driving in through Hoodsport was no problem. There were some potholes, but nothing terrible. However, at the end of the Forest Service road and the start of the paved road into the National Park, the gate was down. Why? I don't know. There was no snow on the Forest Service road, and if the gate had been left up, then traffic would have cleared the National Park portion of the snow that was on it. The National Park Service dropped the ball today. There was no good reason not to have the gate open.
I parked at the gate a little before 9 a.m., the first car there, and walked in. There was some snow and ice on the road, but not the whole width of the road. On the 1.1 mile walk from the gate to the toilets I walked only on pavement. The toilets were unlocked...thank goodness.
Leaving the parking lot, the trail was covered with snow, ice, or slush in most places. It wasn’t deep. It was plenty slippery in places and slightly muddy in others. Between the parking lot and the suspension bridge there were 3 medium sized trees down across the trail. One of these was at waist height.
I didn’t make the turn up the river, because I knew the snow would get deeper. As always, I only walked the south side of the loop, which is much nicer than the north side. About half way back to the Ranger Station I passed 3 hikers. These were the only 3 people I saw further down the trail than the area around the Station and parking lots. On the way back to the gate where I was parked, I passed 14 other people.
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