Last week I ran the Palisades loop and tried to tack on Noble Knob. We turned around about 1-1.5 miles from the top of Noble Knob just due to how slow it was with snow. Yesterday (Memorial Day) we went back to complete some unfinished business.
Drove the forest roads all the way to Dalles Ridge Trailhead in my 2007 Highlander and had no problems. A few potholes but nothing major. The road was actually in pretty good shape. Once it splits to 7250 there was evidence that someone had recently done work to clear a handful of fallen trees off of the road, so thank you heroes!!
The trail was in pretty decent shape. A few downed trees to climb over or under once the DR trail connects with the NK trail. Snow starts shortly after that. We didn't need poles or spikes but I recognize everyone's comfort level on snow is different. Mostly everything has clear steps built into it and I'm not sure how long the snow has left until it's gone. I used Gaia for some light navigating through the snow. When the trail splits in three - 1184 (Noble Knob Trail) splits to the left - 1185 (Lost Lake) goes to the right - we took the middle trail which is the most direct route to Noble Knob.
Right on the north side of that trail, like 30 feet below the summit, there is a no biff zone on snow. It's maybe 20 steps but if you are uncomfortable in those situations, don't do the middle split of the trail. Again, that snow might be gone soon but definitely will still be there for a few more weeks since it's on a north facing steep slope. For what it's worth, I'm not great on snow as I am pretty much exclusively a trail runner and don't ski or mountaineer, and I was a little shaky but fine.
Views on the peak were awesome! 5 miles round trip. The intermittent snow was fun due to this being 5 miles, if you are doing a longer day the snow might be annoying. I think I included everything, ask questions if you have them!
Love from,
Chef RT
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