Today we stayed closer to home after yesterday’s trip. We tried going up to Little Peak three weeks ago. But there was still quite a bit of snow and ice. On top of that, the “private property” signs were too distracting to find my way around.
See more trip photos here.
Little Peak at a Glance
Access: NF-4517
Round Trip: 5.2 miles
Elevation Range: 2380′-3440′
Gear: microspikes
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
Road 4517
Many roads in the neighborhood seemed to go near Little Peak. But most of them were either private or dead-end. I even drove up close to Goat Creek Ranch on the north side of Road 4517. But then I turned around because the roadway went through private property.
So we went back up to the street with the Granite Creek signage by the junction. It looked like it would take us to where we needed to be. Sure enough, the road led us through the private property by the powerline. Then it ended by the snow berm with a “dead end” post next to it.
See more trip photos here.
The Road Walk
The dead-end marked the national forest boundary. So we were to enter into the public land. But wow. All those neighborhood signs could be so confusing! It felt like I was deciphering parking signs stacked on top of one another in downtown Seattle.
I put on microspikes on the other side of the snowbank. Then we walked toward the peak on firm snow with ski tracks. It looked like the best way would be to stay on the road. Then it would take us through up to the ridgeline.
See more trip photos here.
Little Peak Southeast Ridge
But I saw two problems with going this way. First, .25 mile past Little Creek would get us back into private land. Next, the road made a long switchback for one mile. So it didn’t seem like fun to walk the entire distance. Plus, we would still be on private property.
So to stay within the national forest, we left the road after crossing the creek. From there, we went through the light brush to the base of the ridge. Then we went up 250′ through snow patches and rocks to reach the upper roadway.
See more trip photos here.
The Ridge Walk
Once we were up on the ridge, the route was straightforward. All we needed to do now was to walk the road up to the 3100′ saddle. From there, we would then take the ridge trail up to the top. Everything was fine until I saw a private property sign on a tree.
So I double-checked my map. Then I realized that we were about to go outside the national forest boundary. Ugh, so frustrating! Oh well. So we continued for the next half a mile. Then after that, we were back on public land for good.
See more trip photos here.
Little Peak Summit
In hindsight, I could have used snowshoes in the soft snow for efficiency. But I felt too lazy to put them on in the shallow snow. Soon, we were on the woodsy summit of Little Peak. But the tall timbers were in the way of our views.
We stayed for ten minutes. Then we walked back to the eastern edge of the ridge. There was an opening we passed on the way here. The 180-degree view there wasn’t too shabby. I could even see Kachess Lake from there.
See more trip photos here.
Outro
After a long break, we made our way back down to the road. Then we took the same way to go down to the car. And yes, we went through the private property, aka trespassed, for the second time. Oops.