The road to the trailhead was in great condition. It looked like it had recently been graded and all the winter blowdowns have been cleared from the road. There is a pit toilet at the trailhead, that was even stocked with TP! :-)
We had planned to scramble Oakes Peak, but decided against it, since the snow level was so high. We did a quick pivot and thought we'd check out Thornton Lakes and Trapper Peak. We decided to leave our snowshoes at the car, thinking that the snow level was high and any remaining snow was likely fairly consolidated.
There were several blowdowns across the trail, with the exception of a couple, they were pretty easily stepped over. There was a blowdown across a stream crossing at 1 mi that was pretty dense and took a bit of navigation. There is also a tree across the bridge over Thornton creek. My hiking buddy, who is 6'2" was able to climb over the top of it. I, at 4'10", decided to shimmy under it. (see photo) The trail after the old logging road was the usual root-and-rock "fun" of PNW trails. In places, it was also a drainage creek, with running water.
We could hear spring happening in the forest. The grouse were thumping away, lots of birds and a couple of woodpeckers. On the way up I saw a snake sunning itself in the middle of the trail, and higher up, I saw squirrels running over the snow.
The consistent snowpack began at about 3800'. Without a GPS mapping app, it would be very difficult/impossible to follow the trail, as the forest is open, with very few landmarks. At 4100' the snow became very deep and we started post-holing, regretting our decision to leave the snowshoes at the car. We stopped for lunch at 4200', with a beautiful view across the valley, before turning back and heading for the car.
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