Set out on the trail head around 1030 Sunday morning. The trip down the side of the bridge was steep so be careful. The trail itself looked to be an old logging road that heads North/South beneath the Fairfax bridge. Headed South away from the bridge and came upon the remnants of a wall with mossy overgrowth. The wall viewed from the trail is six maybe seven feet tall from the ground, however if one were to circle down to the bottom (Another steep climb) they would find the wall being twice that height with portholes (possibly for lights?) carved into the side. Continuing south one comes upon the Powder House (Or Dynamite Shack), it's still in rough standing shape with a few missing stones taken from the walls. Back onto the trail there is a fork, the trail leading up to the left I'm told heads towards the school house, (A later fact I regret not going to because the pictures look awesome!) Keep to the right to head into Melmont. Stay on the trail and continue on the right whenever the option presents itself. Eventually the trail circles around into the south side of the town site. Here one can see plenty of raised lumps in square positions laid out into a "Town". Two more trails leading off of this, one leads to another wall directly south of the site, the other leads to an established camp site; When we where there plenty of beer cans, makeshift targets, and ammunition casings littered the campsite. The fire pit and benches are still present, however the tarp that presented a makeshift windbreak didn't last through the winter. All in all a really easy and good hike for a Sunday morning. The trail itself was beautiful with plenty of clear water streams cascading down. However, this abundance of water leaves deep pockets of mud on the trail (Ankle-Deep pockets). The town site was generally clear of debris, aside from the flipped over half cab of an old truck. The only other litter and debris found on the hike was located in the actual campsite itself.

We decided to have a our hike on a day in fine Washington weather, in other words the pouring down rain. We arrived at the Fairfax Bridge around 2:30 PM. We parked on the west-side and carefully walked back across to the east-side of the bridge. We decided the best route would be to jump over the guard rail that is lined against the rock wall, not the cliff. The climb was nothing like what we had read in previous trip reports that claimed one needed rope, or to be extremely careful. We just held on to the bridge tiers and quickly climbed down in less than 5 minutes. An extremely muddy trail going North to South lied before us. We decided it was best to head left , away from Carbonado due to old maps of Melmont indicating Carbonado was north of the town. A little ways down we encountered the rock wall. I climbed up on top of which I immediately discovered was a mistake due to two reasons. First, I had no way to climb back down, and second, the opposite side of the wall has a 10-15 foot drop. I walked up the wall and was able to get down by jumping on a large rock and falling backwards into some foliage. Continuing on, a little ways more we encountered the dynamite shack. We stopped and took pictures. I would like to emphasize here that the trail so far is extremely difficult to navigate due the mud. We repeatedly ended up with mud up to our ankles. At the dynamite shack, the trail starts to become progressively worse in terms of mud, and even more humorous was the fact that the sky decided to let down a downpour of rain right at this point. Now, one encounters the rock wall and dynamite shack very quickly. However, past this point the walk to the townsite is a long muddy haul. Some trip reviews claim it is just a mile to the side while others claim it is two miles. I am leaning towards the latter as it was quite some time before we saw the site. Coming up, one sees a field where the residential zone stood. The residential zone is connected to the commercial zone by a small trail. There is no way to enter the residential field, but the commercial field has trails abound leading down to it. On the way, one sees a Y in the road. Continue right to get to the town-site, while traveling uphill to the left leads your the school sight (with the ruins of the school basement) which was built on a bluff above Melmont. Unfortunately, we could not make it up the school due to the left trail being turned into a virtual water-slide due to the mud and rain. We head down into what was the commercial site. One can see the buried foundations of what seems to have been the saloon according to the map. The shell of an extremely old truck lies in the field, with pieces of it scattered about and shot with what appears to have been a shotgun. Pieces of old brick, glass, and steel are sporadic throughout the site. We walked to the cliff over the river (past some bear poop on the trail), and discovered someone had built a campsite with benches, a fire-pit, and a lean-to. We sat and drank some fine expensive beer, and enjoyed the scenery while simultaneously taking in the pleasurable eeriness of the site where many lived, worked, loved and died. Now they are all gone and the forest has and continues to reclaim the land their former home was built on. We headed out, slightly disappointed in missing the school ruins, but very satisfied with the trip and experience. A definite recommendation to any hiker and/or ghost-town enthusiast. We plan to return one day.