Downright springlike today on the Little Ranger Peak trail! It was 35 degrees and sunny at 10:20 a.m., and it remained sunny all day. (We arrived a bit late due to traffic). We parked in the Camp Sheppard lot as per our usual modus operandi. Outhouses were kinda grody in the a.m. (no T.P., seats not looking like anything I'd place my posterior on), but by our exit at 3:30, someone had restocked the facilities. We hoped to reach the Palisades/Ranger Peak junction today (Dalles Ridge seemed like a pipe dream), but we only made it about one mile past the Little Ranger Peak viewpoint (2 miles shy of Dalles Ridge), due to snow. Our route was White River trail to the L.R. Peak trail, then up that and past the Little Ranger Peak viewpoint towards Dalles Ridge. We turned around on the 8th switchback past the viewpoint, about 30 minutes of hiking or a bit more than a mile on. RT was 11.7 miles.
Conditions: almost zero snow from the parking lot to the LR viewpoint. There's some packed ice and snow right as you start off from the parking lot, but it disappears after about 200 feet. Neither of us used poles or spikes today--no need. Beyond Little Ranger viewpoint, there were intermittent splotches of ice, which seem to have dropped from the treetops. At about the fifth switchback (beyond the viewpoint), snow dusted the trail. Then, blam! Snow was a thing (see pic). The trail was covered, and we decided we'd had a good hike already, so headed back down to the pleasant little viewpoint for lunch. The viewpoint was sunny and dry, and we basked like sun bears on the rocks.
There were about 6-8 blow-downs along the way today, but all of then were easily navigated. If we had continued up towards Dalles Ridge, we definitely would have donned spikes. I would not continue further than we did today of you are not familiar with the trail or have route-finding skills.
Happy hiking , Everyone!
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