This was my first hike of 2021 and also my first ever winter hike on this trail.

The road isn't plowed in the winter, making access more difficult.  Almost all of the snow melted on Christmas, and we've only had a couple of small storms since then, so the road is passable.  I decided to take advantage of the conditions and hike the trail before we get more snow.

At some point someone else had hiked the trail.  I could see they used snowshoes for about 1/2 of the hike.  The snow wasn't deep enough for me to use snowshoes.  I had the trail all to myself. 

It was a cloudy day, with temperatures in the high 20's.  A bit of a cool breeze, but it wasn't an issue.  I thought the wind might be an issue when I arrived at the viewpoint where I wanted to have my lunch break.  The wind was blowing some and I thought I might have to backtrack and find a spot out of the wind, but not long after arriving the wind died down and I was able to have my lunch break at the viewpoint.

The views from the trail are not spectacular, but it is a nice hike out in the woods.

The elevation at the viewpoint is around 1,450 feet.  The elevation gain on the entire loop is around 850 feet.  The loop is about 3.5 miles and it took me 2 1/2 hours to complete.  This was a little more difficult than when I hike the trail in warmer weather.

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