Deadfall, Snow Creek & Mount Zion — Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020

My friend and I originally planned to get up to Mt. Zion via Snow Creek Trail, but the road from Snow Creek Rd. was blocked with a tree (about 6" or so around), so we turned around, aiming for either the official Mt. Zion trailhead or Deadfall trailhead.

Going up the road to the Mt. Zion trailhead, we ran into snow/slush approximately 3 miles from the trailhead. I looked for the Deadfall trailhead and it was just a fraction of a mile up the road, so we opted for that trailhead.

Going up Deadfall was a good slog. We ran into snow around 3.1k' under the tree cover, then lost it once we descended to the Snow Creek trail junction. We turned left and pushed up towards the summit. My friend and I meandered off trail in the snow around 2.5 miles in (0.8 miles from the summit), looking for a view before the viewless summit. We turned around because we couldn't find a view and the summit was a bit too far away for our time box.

On the way down we had lots of fun boot skiing over the slushy trail :).

PS The trail length is as advertised going up to Mt. Zion. Whoever tried editing the length on the map/in past trip reports was incorrect; Fitbits (for example) can lie/mislead, as my friend and I discovered comparing the results from our 2 Fitbits.