So everyone says the first two miles are the hardest. That is true along with the last 0.5, both are really steep.

Now for the other 2.5 miles, it was really tough going for 2 of the 2.5 miles. Mostly covered in snow, sometimes soft, sometimes packed, sometimes slush.

You could walk on top and think this is great, then the next step has your foot drop 24″ , or maybe 2″, or maybe not at all, then 18″. Like stepping off a curb and not know it was there, jolting. Very high energy used to navigate the 2 miles. not only going up, but then you get to do it over again on the way down. Again, uses a lot of energy and harder than the steep parts IMO.

I put the snow disk on my trekking poles, good call!

I tried micro spikes but snow is too soft for those and nothing hard enough for them so I took them off.

Summit climb up to top of rock was a bit sketchy, just take your time. Windy up there so I sat down and took pics.

I'd love to hike this trail without all the snow, maybe in a couple of months.