Visited this trail for the first time yesterday. If you are traveling south on 410 from Greenwater, the parking area on the side of the road is on the left just before the right-turn to Skookum Flats / Buck Creek trailhead. If there's lots of traffic, and you don't want to make a left turn / u-turn, the trailhead is a convenient place to turn around and then easily pull off the road on the (now) righthand side. There is easily room for 5-8 cars. Yesterday, I was the only one there with a start time of noon.

Once parked, you head up the trail and  to the right to follow the Ranger Creek Trail toward Palisades Trail. Like many trails right now, everything was pretty dry, but the path was in good condition with the exception of most of the switchback turns. There the dirt was often very loose and eroding, so you want to take care heading up, and even more so heading back down. The worst spots were closer to the top (pictured, but it doesn't do it justice). Otherwise, I think there were only two blowdowns to deal with, one quite easy to step over, and the other slightly larger that required more effort from those of us with shorter legs. :-)

The trail is shared, and there was evidence of horses and bikes, but I saw no others on the trail this day. In many places, it would be challenging to pass a bike or horse safely with the narrow stretches and steep uphill/downhill to each side. Overall, it's a very nice trail, lots of trees / shade, and the road noise fades away once you are about 1-mile in. There are a few water run-off spots that may be a good water source at another time of year, but they were virtually dry right now.

Little (visible) wildlife yesterday, too, just chipmunks, a slug, a woodpecker, and a few other birds. All in all, an enjoyable trail, enough gain to make it challenging at a faster pace, but not so much gain that it takes the enjoyment away from spending time in nature. I would definitely come back and extend the hike on a day with an earlier start.

As part of the SISU PNW 24 hour endurance race based at Camp Sheppard I ran from Camp Sheppard to Noble Knob via trails paralleling SR 410 and then using part of the trail to Little Ranger Lookout and peak. All the trails in this area were in good shape and I saw several mountain bikers out enjoying a ride. The only snow was a few patches in the shade when I was within about 1-1.5 miles of Noble Knob. These were melting fast and easy to cross - I saw a fairly young child walk over some with his mom. There’s one snowy patch near the top of the knob which is trickier to cross since you are a bit more exposed but people had gone beneath it to create an easier path on a lower snow patch. I just went slow and used my poles. I had micro spikes but didn’t feel the need to use them at all.

That snow might be gone soon in any case given the heat wave 6/26-6/29/21!
Gorgeous views made the long ascent worth it! 
Sadly there is a campfire ring with scorched rocks and trash on the knob itself. I packed out the trash that I could carry- tent poles?!? Leave no trace if you can… 

It’s official: the Palisades Loop is clear of snow and eminently doable! Our route today started at Camp Sheppard (great parking and a decent outhouse), where we caught the White River trail to the Little Ranger Peak trail. Once on LRP trail, we hiked to the junction with the Palisades trail. Here, we hung a left and followed the Palisades trail back down to the White River trail, which took us back to Camp Sheppard. I’d say we did about 15 miles RT—mileage varies between trail signs and Green Trails map. No snow (well, a smidge, but hardly worth mentioning; literally about ten feet long total, all on the Palisades trail, and zero problem). There were several blowdowns, but all easily stepped over. The most challenging aspect of the hike are areas where the grade is steep and the trail slippery, with loose dirt and small rocks. Just take your time and use poles. Specifically, after you leave Little Ranger viewpoint (on your way up to the Palisades junction), you will be going up 15 switchbacks. On switchback 9, it’s pretty steep and slippery. Like, I used my hands. On the Palisades portion of the trail, the area along the waterfall is steep. In my opinion, this is less a slip risk than a knee challenge. There’s a rather long stretch of steep switchbacks, a flight of stairs, and some isolated high steps. Poles and patience will see you through. You’ll gain and lose nearly 3000 feet coming and going. It’s a great workout, though, and beautiful. The landscape is varied, with various wildflowers, Pacific yew trees long Little Ranger, giant old growth Doug fir and cedars at both ends of the hike, and amazing views from Palisades ridge. Wildflowers we saw today included: Deerfoot vanilla leaf, fairy slipper, trillium, pioneer violet, woods strawberry, lavender penstemon, scarlet paintbrush, spreading phlox, and one that I can’t identify from my flower books. I'd include a picture, but it has too many bytes or whatever to fit here. Oh well! Happy hiking, All!

Wanting to do a short hike, we visited the first viewpoint of the Little Ranger Peak trail.  The viewpoint is after 2.5 miles and 1350 feet gain.  

Super empty on a busy weekend, easy parking, very gradual grade, nice view of Sunrise area and Rainier.  The trail is in great condition and provides a lot of shade.  We saw one mountain biker and two hikers during our outing.

Beware of sitting on the rocky bit at the first viewpoint- it is full of biting ants!  

5 miles and 1350 ft gain

Very light snow on the ridge, will be gone soon. Good early season loop!