I am so happy this was my last one. We took the reviews of the parking area seriously and left nothing in out truck. Even left our center console and glove box open.

We began our hike and it was perfect weather. Not hot and not too cold. Around mile 2.5 it started to rain lightly. It’s okay we put on our ponchos as we were prepared. Mile 3 we came across snow on the trail and all around. So beautiful! At mile 3.5 it started snowing! YES! It was breathtakingly amazing and beautiful! Made it to the summit! WOOHOO! We spent about 30 minutes up there. Had a little celebratory Tennessee Moonshine. I made a snow angel. One might say there was no view but not so. Could not see the valley but the snow covered landscape was its on view and I will gladly take that over a valley view any day! We were snowed on for the four miles down until we came to the fire road/single track crossing. Oh how we took in every step of hiking in the snow. There is a silence that is like no other when it snows. Shhh…you can almost hear it. We could talk believe how much it snowed and how far down. The wind was blowing so much our faces were pelted with snowflakes. Once we got to the single track with one mile left, Rangers drove up and said hi. They asked if we were cold and we said nah. They laughed as they thought we were crazy to be out there. As we trekked that last mile the snow stopped but we were rained on. So refreshing. We got back to our truck with all windows in tact.
This was my favorite hike. It was the easiest but my favorite because it was done in snow making it epic and incredibly beautiful! Loved it!