A really beautiful winter wonderland out there! I hadn't made the trek to see the larches, and knowing they were probably almost done I figured I might as well just go on an expedition to see the snow. The road had several inches of snow on it but it seemed like about half the people were driving up it and half parked along Highway 20. Not many people out regardless.
The trail itself was in great shape to Cutthroat Lake. Enough people were walking it that it was still pretty established even with more snow coming down. And I did see a couple yellow larches peeking out beneath the snow!
I kept going along the Cutthroat Pass trail because I was ultimately hoping to get a bit higher up, but the trail was much less traveled after the lake junction. Eventually the trail was completely footprint-free, roughly 2 miles from the pass. I decided to keep going a little bit, post holing in knee deep snow. About a half mile into that, I called it and built a snowman before turning around. If anyone makes it up that far I hope it makes someone else as happy as it made me!
It seems as though the mountain hiking/trail running season is over. It's been a good run! However, this honestly would have been awesome on some touring skis, so there's that.
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