Had a great, early, morning, riding the gravel bike from the Deer Creek gate up to Barlow Pass and on to the road to Monte Cristo. There is minimal snow now and just trees to clear occasionally. The highway is being regraded on the Darrington side of Barlow so the closure of the highway is still in effect. The trail is passable but does still have some tough spots to take the bike across but it's all doable if you want to venture further.  I returned to the Mountain Loop Highway via the reclaimation road and then went up, and over, Barlow Pass again to return to the car. The ride back from Barlow was a fun, easy pedal and glide. Big Four was beautiful. GPS track and pictures are here.