I called up Grayson Highlands State Park and the lady told me that the park road is in bad shape, 4WD only and they haven't had many visitors so the trail isn't broken in. Apparently they've got drifts up to 10 ft high in the higher areas.

Hiked mostly above 5,000 ft in GSMNP yesterday and tons of snow still there - generally waist deep. We were on the AT and Boulevard Trail. AT was well traveled and hard packed. Boulevard has not seen a lot of traffic and required a lot of deep post-holing. It was sunny and in the 40s so an absolutely perfect day.

Great Pics, thanks for sharing. A 5 hour roundtrip is remarkable in those conditions... good job!

driftwood wrote:I did the Mt. Mitchell trail yesterday. Little snow down at the campground, a lot up at the top. Even though Commissary Ridge was thigh deep post holing all the way up it couldn't have been any nicer of a day. Five hours round trip.

As a former North Carolinian who now lives in Alaska, it's quite a treat to see these pictures! Hope a little of that snow is still there when I'm back in the Blacks late next month.

In the meantime, up here at latitude 61, I hiked from sea level to 3000' yesterday almost entirely on bare, unfrozen ground. I wore summer hiking boots but wished I'd just gone with running shoes.

driftwood wrote:I did the Mt. Mitchell trail yesterday. Little snow down at the campground, a lot up at the top. Even though Commissary Ridge was thigh deep post holing all the way up it couldn't have been any nicer of a day. Five hours round trip.

Great pics, and welcome to Summitpost!

New Years eve, I was up with a friend to Scales via the AT and Crest trail. Snow deep in spots so I ended up wearing my snowshoes b/c I plunged about every 6th step on the crest. Temp 5 with lowest WC I recorded -34. New Years day on Pine Mt between Scales and Rhododendron Gap my thermometer froze up. I thought I was on Mt Washington with the only exposed skin being my nose. I had ski goggles and balaclava. We sort of came down the Cliffside trail but with all the snow, who knows?

Took my 13 yo son to Grayson Highlands a few weeks ago. We snowshoed in Lewis Fork and Cliffside trail and camped at Lewis Fork/ Lewis Fork connector in 2+' snow. We continued up Lewis Fork and made summit at Crest/Lewis Fork. Below the summit the snow was 3' deep. Temp in teens, light wind, icy wonderland.

Got home today from Mt Mitchell. Hiked up Colbert Ridge yesterday to Deep Gap, took me 4 hours. Past the rocky overlook there was snow 2' and deeper. Plus the blowdowns. Plus no ones been up that high breaking the trail. You know its deep when sometimes you step forward forward, sink to your thigh and your snowshoe has dissappeared. Then you noticed the trail blazes are at ankle level. That sh#t was deep! Got rain and snow last night.

Its amazing all the snow. These two trips I've dug platforms and boot pits. Melted snow for water. Something I haven't done since the Cascades. Need one more trip!?!

driftwood wrote:I did the Mt. Mitchell trail yesterday. Little snow down at the campground, a lot up at the top. Even though Commissary Ridge was thigh deep post holing all the way up it couldn't have been any nicer of a day. Five hours round trip.

11.2 miles, with 4 of those through thigh deep postholes, in 5 hours. Impressive.

A couple of pictures from the snow/ice storm that hit Western NC about two weeks ago.