Birthday summit #1 of 2 (hiked Rocky after this.) Started out around 0830 after a grueling drive up Route 28- wicked pot holes!

Parking is limited in winter, so I was really hoping no other ambitious weekday hikers were out, and I was in luck to be the only car in the ~3 car width plowed parking spot when I arrived. ~19° and very sunny. Barely any wind.

I crossed the snowmobile trail & signed into the register - one of those that is very disorganized, people starting it front & back, some pages with only two people signed on it... this isn’t that hard! Haha.

This trail was bare booted and post holed to Hell. Good grief was it bad. Followed the blue trail up. The snow was thankfully very crunchy and the trail easy to follow. Mostly flat until the final push (microspikes required.) The gain was steady but nothing that made me pause to catch my breath.

The summit was nice, with a pretty view. I had lovely blue skies and the temperature was coming up as I hit the summit. I sat for a bit & had a beer, then went back the way I came up on the blue trail rather than making the loop. Since I was feeling fine, I decided to hike Rocky afterward, knowing it was literally right there and a short climb.