Our wildlife sightings of the day were on the drive in with two, then three more, white-tail deer curiously eyeing us on the Powderface Trail near Dawson trailhead. The trail had some icy spots near the bottom and was mostly dry until halfway up, then snow coverage started:


Cox Hill trail

Going was fairly easy as a layer of snow covered any ice underneath. Thoughts of making an exploratory bushwhack up the east ridge were dashed by the presence of deeper snow drifts off the trail, so we continued on the usual route. The snow was firm on the trail along the base of the summit ridge but it may be a challenge when the snow gets isothermal. Further up was generally not bad although there were occasional fine postholing adventures. Up on the ridge was okay:


Summit ridge on way to Cox Hill

We briefly stopped at the summit to admire the panoramic view of the front ranges:


Francisco, Paul & Eva on a windy Cox Hill summit

but there was a strong wind that caused us to backtrack a little bit to find a nice sunny sheltered spot to have lunch. We then went to the east end of the summit ridge to check out exploratory possibilities and a relatively open ridgeline holds some promise to try some routefinding when the snow has melted. Back along the ridge we descended and took the alternate return route:


Snowy north slope of Cox Hill

The descent trail was melting so that the snow cover was disappearing in a lot of places, revealing a water slicked ice layer underneath – why did I leave my micro-spikes at home? In most cases the ice could be avoided with adept footwork, but overnight freezes will leave the upper trail quite icy for a while yet.Thanks to Paul, Eva, and Francisco for joining me on a good day in the foothills. Ron, C/S/P.