We hiked from the start of the Little Ranger Peak trail just off the 410, just across the road and a few hundred feet north of the Skookum Flats Trailhead.

A lot of the trail direction signs were not there, either fallen down or destroyed. The signs in general were very poor and vague to begin with.

The trail up to Little Ranger peak was a little tricky in sections because of the fallen trees you had to climb over, the snow (spikes would be beneficial in short sections), the washed away trail that was sometimes hard to see where it was. We hiked down the loop trail via the Palisades and the waterfalls. The different types of forests we walked through on the way back was great, never seen so many trilliums in my life. 

The burned sections were impressive and different to see. Nature is coming back.

The views from the top were amazing, looking down on the airport with the snow capped mountains in the distance.

We saw less than ten other people on the whole trail, some of those were bikers that couldn't get to the top.

The hike was about 16 miles, less than about nine hours. I loved it.

Scouting for snow, mileages are from the start of the Little Ranger Creek trail where it intersects with the White River Trail.  The burned area and the snow begin at 3.2 miles. From 3.6-4.0 miles there are a dozen burned trees that have fallen onto the trail and snow up to 2 feet deep. I turned around at 4 miles. It looks like the remaining .7 miles will also be burnt with many fallen trees. 

In the burnt area, there are many more trees that will be falling, not the place to be on a windy day.  The undergrowth has all been burnt and there is already significant erosion on the downhill side of the trail.  The trail is built into the side of around a 45 degree slope in the burnt section, I'm guessing that a lot of erosion will occur before the undergrowth comes back. 

I've included a picture where you can see how thoroughly burnt the top of this trail is and the Dalles Ridge Trail. 

Did a loop up Palisades from Hwy 410 then down Ranger Creek Trail and back to the trailhead on the White River Trail.  About 16 miles all in.  Started out at 8:00 am.  The morning was cool and cloudy and soon became a light but persistent drizzle/mist.  The Palisades trail is in great condition, with some mud as would be expected in this weather.  There are a lot of blowdowns on the Palisades side of the loop, but almost all have been cut and cleared from the trail.  Only one downed tree to step over on the Palisades trail, and it was no problem.  I only saw one group of mountain bikers coming toward me near the summit, so near total solitude on the hike up.  I can't vouch for the views from the various viewpoints as the cloud cover did not allow the views of Rainer or Sun Top to be seen.  However, I imagine they are quite good and I will come back on a clear day to check it out.  The nice thing about this loop is that nearly all of the significant elevation gain is in the first 5 miles or so, meaning the rest of the mileage is either downhill or relatively level with a few minor climbs.  Some of the cliffs near the summit are pretty spectacular, and might give even a mountain goat vertigo.  Keep children or dogs away from the edge!

Once I started down on the Ranger Creek Trail side of the loop, the trail conditions changed for the worse for the first mile or two heading down.  There are two blowdowns across the trail, one of which should pose little problem for most hikers.  The other is more of a challenge.  It is a large tree at a 45 degree angle across the trail on a steep slope.  There are a couple stubs on either side of the tree where branches used to be that make good hand grips as you straddle the tree and take one leg over, then the other.  Mountain bikers in pairs should be able to pass the bikes over to one another, but it would be more challenging for a single rider, though I talked to a guy a the shelter at the summit who had done it.

The other significant obstacle is a washout on the trail.  It doesn't cover that much distance on the trail, but it is in a steep and muddy section and the dirt/mud is loose.  Poles were very useful here.  After clearing these three obstacles the rest of the trail down to the White River trail is in good condition with some muddy spots.  Encountered more people on this side of the trail, likely owing to the time of day, including several groups of mountain bikers and a few groups of hikers. 

The White River Trail back to the trailhead is a pleasant walk through the forest with no obstacles of note and is relatively level with a few minor ups and downs.  It is quite close to Highway 410 in places, so traffic noise does disrupt the silence enjoyed on the rest of the hike.

Pallisades trail is snow free.  Set out from Camp Sheppard, visited beautiful Snoquera Falls, crossed to the Little Ranger Peak trail (some skeeters at the junction), climbed to the shelter, then traversed the spectacular Pallisades before dropping down through an awesome draw with some amazing trail work past Dalles Falls to close the loop, 15-16 miles?  Trails are graded for bicycles (saw two) so somewhat tedious over stretches but gorgeous highlights make this well worth the hike.