[at-l] Trail conditions November through December?

[Sloetoe]

--- Patrick <meta474 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ... I'm not squeamish, I've done a section  
> of the CDT in May (near Grand Lake, CO) and I
> handled the snow all  
> right. So a few inches isn't going to bother me, as
> long as it's not  
> deeper than eight or nine inches I should be fine
> without snowshoes.

### I hiked out of Fontana a couple of years ago with
12-18" of wet/melting oatmeal sneaux on the ground,
18"-24" in the (limited) drifts. I was pretty worried,
and considered taking the shoes (which I'd packed into
the car). I was amazed at how easy the going was,
making Wesser/Nantahala in no time. (AND had the
way-fun opportunity to hike the last 8 downhill miles
at night {the whole world's aglow} with these big,
massive 12 foot long steps through the sneaux, like
Paul Bunyan bopping over the foothills. THAT was fun.)

### I think poles (which I rarely carry) and the
non-crusted conditions helped massively, but no matter
the conditions, hiking downhill can be so speedy as to
be fun.

sneauxtoe