First of all, parking is the worst for Icehouse. I had to park nearly half a mile down from the trailhead. I figured out if I had waited another 30 minutes, several people were coming down when I was about a mile in. Best time is probably really early or around 10:30-11am for parking. I arrived around 9:50am. There were two spots on the hike where there was a decent amount of snow on the trail, where it was not super easy to pass. Coming down, I managed to avoid these two spots by coming down very steep alternative trails. The 2nd one was basically sliding down on my butt, so probably not the greatest option, but it was honestly less treacherous than the snow field that it bypassed.

I would like to ask why no one is abiding by the rules of leashing their dogs on the trails. I mean most of the dogs I have passed are very well behaved, but what happens when “squirrel” hits their brains? I saw many 8-10 unleashed dogs on this hike.

Total hike, taking the most direct route from my car (extra 3/4 mile total), was 12.8 miles and took me just over 5 hours, including a 15 minute break at the top.