Noble Knob, Dalles Ridge

I’m still recovering from back surgery in March, so I was looking for an easy hike. I decided to try Noble Knob via the Dallas Ridge trail #1173. The access road is a lot better than the last time I did the Corral Pass road. I went Tuesday July 7th.

The trailhead has an “Open to uses:” sign, but there’s no sign with the name of the trail. The trailhead is at 5300 ft. There were no other cars in the parking lot. I did not see anyone else on the trail. I took Zermatt and Chelan, two of my pack goats along.

It was a cloudy day so no views of Mt. Rainier. It seemed like there were not as many wildflowers as I remember from past years. There was one tree down across the trail and a few snow banks, but they were no problem. It’s about 4 ½ miles RT with an 800 ft elevation gain. Although there no real views due to the clouds, it was still a very pleasant hike. Almost no bugs.

General driving directions to the trailhead: Drive east on State Highway 410 to Greenwater Road FS #70 (1.7 miles past the community of Greenwater). FS road 70 is a paved 2 lane road. Turn left (north) onto Road #70 and follow 5.8 miles to Road #72. Turn right (south) onto Road #72 and follow for 7.3 miles to Road #7250. Turn left onto Road #7250 and travel 2.0 miles to Road #7250210. There is a small 210 sign in the small trees at this junction. #7250-210 goes straight, #7250 angles down to the right. Follow road #7250-210 0.5 mile to trailhead. Parking for 5-8 cars. FS road #72 is a pretty good gravel road with some wash boarding and a few pot holes. FS road #7250 is also pretty good gravel road, but there are more and deeper potholes.