Despite the harsh weather conditions, I grabbed the moral high ground by dutifully displaying my Discover Pass as directed.
There's no sign for the TCR TH on the road anymore but it's pretty obvious (about 300' back down the road from the parking area). About 100' in from the road, the TCR cuts sharp right (yellow arrow), while the old road I wanted to explore goes straight ahead (white arrow).
This road, although brushy in spots, is very distinct and easy to follow. It's at its least obvious when it crosses two side drainages in the first 0.75 mi. There's a trail through each of these ravines, even though the road itself is largely gone.
Still really cold - not bad as long as I kept moving but the cold started burrowing in fast anytime I stopped for any reason.
After the first mile, the road settled down to just a walk with occasional piles of brush to work through or around.
After 3.25 mi, I came to a saddle at about 2000' where the plan was to head up the ridge and then XC E toward the TCR trail (yellow arrow).
At this point, I took a common sense break and chewed on the concept that this XC exploration was likely an inappropriate activity for a short, still really d*mned cold day. Decided that knocking out the whole loop in one fell swoop could wait for a day that was longer, warmer, and (hopefully) sunnier. And so back the way I'd come - where, curiously, it was still COLD.
However, as is often the case with one of my early starts, the sun made a perverse appearance just before I got back to the TH.
A short (6.5 mi, 1400' EG) hike but it sets the stage for an interesting loop around TCR. The red and yellow tracks are done, now I just have to see how hard it is to connect the white dots.
