Occasionally a rider CAN get caught in the mountains when you'd think everything would be OK and get caught in an early fall or late spring snow... just ask PMackie about his little adventure last year.
Yup...not much fun.
Gunner, if you get caught in the snow, like I did, you have a decision to make:
1. Is it safer to ride to somewhere else (like DOWN the mountain in my case) or
2. Can you safely park the bike and hitch a ride.
When I ran into snow on the way to meet Red01 and Bobcat, it was about 500-700 ft elevation before the summit. I slowed WAY down and would have parked, but still basically had a clear "wheel track" at the pullout at the top. I wrongly assumed I would run out of the snow with the first km (0.6 mile)down from the summit, but the snow got worse. I finally had the front wash on me in 4" of snow and hit the road. The bad part was sitting there on a steep, downhill slight corner, with cars coming down the hill towards me, and transports spinning and stuck on the uphill beside me. I looked like another accident waiting to happen. I decided I HAD to get downhill to a safer place, and so got the bike back up on its wheels and started bulldogging/outriggering at about 3 kmph (2mph). The conditions were very bad, with no good pullout options for several kms. Once I had a safe place to pull off, I had a wet wheel track back, so I continued to ride downhill.
Best lesson for me, once I see snow in the air, turn around and find a safe, warm place to park.