Snow? Snow, what?

So after waffling on what to do with yet another snow day today, I decided upon a snow hike in one of my favorite places: Mount Rogers. Checked the forecast, calling for 14-20 inches of snow in the next 48 hours...sounds perfect. I knew that they had gotten quite a bit already, but I had been up there before with about 18 inches on the ground and it was still doable. I loaded up the X with some hiking gear, and took off. Everything was in good shape until right at the base of the mountain, then it was as if snowy Hades broke loose. At this point I saw one like-minded individual in their FJ...by like-minded I mean total lack of any semblance of common sense.


It was dumping snow, so I kicked it into 4X4 mode. Everything was still cool for a while til I started up towards Elk Garden...the plows had all but given up and the snow was falling fast. I still was holding onto hope that I could get a hike in from there. At the top, the road probably had about a foot or more of unplowed snow.



In my mind, I would be able to get into the little gravel lot, park and take off on one of the more exposed trails so that it would be more windblown, less deep. The snow from the roads over the past couple of days was piled up in front of the exits and entrances to the lot, easily in excess of four feet. No go. And every single little pull off area was like this...so no go. The day wasn't a complete wash, I got to have fun in 4 wheel drive, get out of the house and still managed to follow coach's plan and get in my required run.
I probably would have better spent my day like this