Five of us met at Middlesex Park and Ride at 9 AM and carpooled to the end of the plowed section of North Bear Swamp Road, which serves as the winter parking area for the Middlesex Trail. It was empty except for the car of the other hiker in our group who met us there. The six of us set off at 9:40. We’d initially donned spikes for the road walk section, which is often groomed by a resident for cross country skiers. However, we soon found the footing too soft and all of us switched to snowshoes by the time we reached the turn off to the uphill trail. The trail had not been broken out, but the snow was a nice firm consistency, so we didn’t sink too deeply, and there was plenty of it, which made traveling up and down the steep rock sections about as easy as it gets in the winter on this combination of trails. We encountered no ice to speak of. We reached the summit of Mt. Hunger at noon, but the brisk west wind was too much for us to want to stay more than a few minutes before heading down the other side toward the junction with the White Rock Trail. As expected, that trail had also not been broken out. The White Rock Trail gets very light travel in the winter, so there wasn’t an indentation to follow, and the numerous blow downs and deep snowpack, which nearly covered the blue blazes, made trail finding in this section a fun challenge. After reaching the open ledge just below the White Rock summit, we continued on around up to the summit, arriving around 1:20. We found the steep rock sections up to the summit remarkably easy to ascend and descend due to the nice snowpack. After a short stay on the summit, we descended the Bob Kemp Trail, then the Middlesex Trail, and arrived back at our cars around 3. It was a great group and really fun hike! Participants: Julie, Liana, Rich, Ian, Chris, Jill (trip leader). Photos: Rich Douglass and Jill George.