As we get parked at the trail head, peeks of blue sky and sun shine came through the fog. To start it out, the trail is nice and wide, flat and even, well maintained. A few water falls of run off are just ahead, neat evidence of slide areas in these spill ways.
About a 1/2 mile into the trail, we encountered the snow, fully aware this would happen. Initially this was a mix of slush and mud but quickly firmed up and was actually pretty easy to trek through.
Once we hit the boulder field apprx 2.5 miles up, the trail disappeared into the snow, a few cross country paths led off up the slope but this was the end of our trek. It had been a nice journey, a snowball or two flew through the air that day but without better snow gear and specifically snow shoes, it was our end of the road.
The Roslyn Brewery is about 30 miles from the trail area but was a great stop. A simple little brewery, they offered a pale lager, dark lager, IPA and home made rootbeer.
The pale lager (Brookside), simple and fine for what it was, very light, not much flavor. Thanks to chocolate barley, the dark lager (Roslyn) is full bodied and has a nice thick "smoked" essence. The IPA remains nameless and was a trial batch, has a very mellow hoppiness, light malt and a bright floral taste. We preferred the IPA and Roslyn for our choices. The rootbeer had some real magic going, perfect bubbly burn and sweet classic flavor.
All in all, great day! Some nice sites, will go back this summer and try again for the top, tastey beers, will definetly go back and try out the small batch brews and of course good company :)
