Arrived 9:30AM Saturday morning and were the only car in the small pullout that could hold 4-12 cars depending on thoughtfully people park.  The trail was mostly in excellent condition, but in the last burst of switchbacks before connecting to the Palisades trail there are two fairly significant washouts that could be treacherous if conditions were wet; things were dry and we were able to navigate them find, as were the 5-6 mountain bikers who were the only other folks we saw on the trail.  Above those washouts the trail had obviously been worked on recently - thank you to all who did that!

#Hike-a-Thon 2025!!

Three of us, two adults and one hiker-happy St. Bernard -started up from the Hwy 410 ** with the intention of only going to the vista point/rock but decided to explore further, despite the warnings of many fallen tree obstructions.   The reports were correct, massive downed trees.  We'll go back when (if) it's cleaned up, since objective was Palisades Trail was the goal.  One very nice thing - the trail is excellent - good slope, covered with fir needles, a nice hike just for the trail.  **Two parking options 1) turn right on to FR7610, over the bridge, immediate left down to parking, then recross the bridge, cross the highway and hike immediately uphill; joins White River Trail in about 50 yards, or 2) pull off heading west about 1/4 mile west of FR7610 and pull off on north side; parking for 4-5 cars; trail is easy to see, but unmarked and goes 100 yards to junction with White River Trail.  One good dog water source at 2+ miles.  Only two other hikers today. No flowers, no wildlife.   More info and pix at - www.deetezellimountainstories.wordpress.com

Decided to go up the Little Ranger Peak trail, starting off of Hwy 410, and go as far as time would allow.  I was hoping to get all the way to Noble Knob.  The trail up to the rock outcrop view point is in great shape.  Shortly after this things go bad quickly.  Starting maybe 1/2 mile from that spot there are numerous large trees across the trail.  Most of them aren't all that bad to get over or under, in-fact someone has cut notches in the logs that help in getting over them.  It's just the large number of these downed trees that get to you after a while.  Once you get to the top of the trail, it merges with the Palisades trail, this is where things get really messy heading towards Noble Knob.  All through the previously burned area, the path is constantly blocked with fallen tops of trees and broken limbs creating creating problems for the next mile.  During this section  you are constantly going over, under, or around fallen tree tops.  During one part of this, in the old burn area, there was not one tree left that had not had its top blown off.  After about 1 mile you get out of the burn area and the blockages stop.  From here on, it was much easier.  I made it to about 1 mile form Noble Knob, where due to time I had to turn around.  The affected potion of the Palisades was quite strenuous and really slowed me down.  It really got to be a pain dealing with all the damage.

The good part was that there were several nice views of the mountain.

Gorgeous walk through the quiet woods - we only came across two other hikers the whole day. Ticks have been reported on that "hill" (Snoquera area) but we didn't see any or come away with any, thankfully! We just went up to the first viewpoint about 3 miles up for a lovely lunch on a rock outcropping with beautiful territorial views - and even got a glimpse of the top of our mountain! 

We started at the Palisades trailhead and ended at the Little Ranger Peak trailhead, both off of Hwy 410, one way with cars at both ends. The Palisades trail all the way to Little Ranger Peak (6 mi) is in great shape. Some trees down across the trail but nothing hard to navigate. We did have to bushwhack up to Little Ranger Peak, because the snow had started a ways below and we did not see a trail. Nice view from the Peak. We did not use any spikes to this point, but some might prefer them, especially if freezing temps return.

After enjoying the great view from Little Ranger Peak, (Which had a peak registry, but no paper. If you’re going you might take some along for the registry.) we headed down the Little Ranger Peak trail. Along the ridge there were no tracks in the now deep snow, so we had to do a lot of route finding, because there were TONS of blowdowns and LOTS of snow to cover all the holes that happen beside blowdowns (major sketchy post holing). Snowshoes, which we did not have would have helped a LOT here. The going was very slow. Then below the ridge the mass quantities of blowdowns continued, making the go very slow and difficult. Snowshoes would not help here, just slow climbing through the messes. The trail finally cleared a bit above the lookout, 3 or so miles from the Little Ranger Peak trailhead. I’d wait till some crews get the trail cleared before doing that one all the way to Little Ranger Peak again. But the Palisades approach was fine.