This was my first time hiking in the snow to Inspiration Point and around the Mt Lowe Railway. I've hiked this area many times but never in the snow!
It was truly a winter wonderland for me. I wanted to stay there for as long as I could and soak in the beauty surrounding me.
We started at the Chaney Trailhead and continued up the Mt Lowe Road the entire way.
The snow started at about Horse Shoe curve where the bench had been recently recovered by the Restoration Legacy Crew.
As we were approaching the old Horse stables and Fox farm we got caught in some light rain, sleet and snow.
The snow level was increasing as we ascended the road. There were few areas where we were postholing. We had spikes but didn't put them on until we descended IP.
At IP the wind chill was untol.erable and it was very cold. We quickly ate our lunch and took a few pics. I didn't want to leave this beautiful, snowy scenery but it was freezing.
We headed back towards Five points and checked out Mt Lowe Camp by the Old Tavern. Snow covered the entire area and the signs were half buried in the snow.
Afterwards, we decided to ascend the use path by the stream back up to the Tom Sloan trail. At this point the snow was knee deep and we were once again postholing. So we turned back.
I can only imagine how deep the snow was towards the Mueller Tunnel. Our plan was to hike up to Mt Wilson but that plan failed due to the deep snow.
Anyway, we descended back the way we came up. I took my time admiring the views. Like I mentioned before, I was exhilarated because it was my first snow hike of the season
We also decided to take the ridge route back to the Cape of Good Hope to avoid some of the road.
Once we reached the road again, we hiked a small portion of the Sunset ridge back to the car.
Just another beautiful day in the San Gabe's
Stars 12 miles, 2000+ gain
