Little Ranger Peak via Ranger Creek, Palisades — Friday, Apr. 4, 2025

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.