Starting out around 8:00am, the campground was fairly well covered with about an inch of snow and the skies were clear. Snow was melting fast up on Islip Ridge, but we were headed up the other direction, where Hawkins Ridge was still enjoying some morning shade.
Snow was about 1" deep up near Windy Gap, and it was interesting to see how quickly the snow melted off the south face of Islip.
Windy Gap over to Mt Hawkins was completely covered, with a couple exceptions. Excellent views out towards Williamson and above the desert, and this is where the clouds started rolling back in.
Scrambled up Hawkins, views were pretty obscured particularly to the east. We then headed back to Hawkins Ridge and tagged each little bump on the way down to South Mt Hawkins, where temps dropped to 30 and little flurries welcomed us at the site of the old fire lookout.
The hike down the fireroad was uneventful, and as expected, back down at the campground all but a few little patches had melted. Great area for a winter hike if you time it right.
Favorite shot of the day was Iron Mountain poking out briefly to say hi from the Sadie Hawkins area:
Trip details here:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2656352
And the rest of the photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattifoto/ ... 489151835/
More winter, please. 8)
