–submitted by Ken Warren
When I posted this hike I had hopes of a snow free trail and sunny views from the summit. A weekend of snow and changing weather forecasts made me consider cancelling, but optimism took charge, and the enthusiasm of the hikers, and we went ahead. We hit the first snow within 15 minutes and were spiked up within 35. We had overcast skies, drifting fog, and occasional blue sky.
At the summit we had a view window of about 45 seconds before the curtains closed. An Oceanside group had gone in on Monday, so the trail was easy to find through the snow, slush, mud, and puddles. There was 20-25 cm of snow at the summit. The temperatures ranged between 2 and 7 and we had no precipitation. In all we had a great hike and although there were no views at the summit, the summit plateau itself is quite picturesque. Thanks again to my intrepid companions and happy trails.
