The weather forecast was for beautiful sunny weather. I keep thinking that the high country is gone – we’ve had a few snow storms which seemed like they would stick, but the snow melted, and higher elevations have still been accessible. With the long weekend and the beautiful weather, I wanted to take advantage and head out somewhere higher. I teetered between Old Baldy and Burnt Granite, and ended up on Burnt Granite since it had some views which I was hoping would be good due to the clear weather.

As we were driving up 4650, since it was a Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), I wasn’t sure if I was going to encounter and trucks since there was thinning going on. After we turned onto 4650, it didn’t look like there had been much recent traffic. There was a small tree across the road, and a big rock, so I don’t think anyone has been driving it recently – I think the work may be complete now. We got to the trailhead about 10:15 or so, and I was thinking I’d drive up the recently re-opened spur road like I had done back in August, exploring the work area. I got stopped pretty quickly, as they have now bermed the spur road (and I don’t think I ever noticed the wooden “trailhead” board before) – The work must be complete:

We parked, suited up and headed up the steep spur road to where the real trail started. This portion is unchanged from what I saw back in August. We started up the trail and probably a quarter mile up, this thinning/fuel reduction work obliterated the tread:

This happened in two distinct sections – probably a couple hundred yards total. Just like down lower on the old “corridor” you could find short pieces of tread in the “islands” they left. I hung flags to help navigate thru that area.

After getting thru the obliterated section, we continued up the trail. For the most part, the trail is in pretty good condition, except for a few spots that get a bit brushy, and a few new blowdowns across the trail. As we ascended the trail, we started to see bits of snow – not much, but a little bit here and there, starting around 4300′:

As you get higher on the trail, it starts to level out a bit and it gets a bit more open. As we were getting up to this area, the sun was gleaming thru the trees and rhodies and I just enjoyed the show:

Shortly after that, the trail gets into a flat area – it is in this area that the trail down to Tarzan springs takes off – I haven’t taken that for quite some time. On the way up, I skipped it, since I wanted to get up the trail and didn’t want to run out of time. We continued up the trail where it starts gently ascending again, and hit the first rockslide and then shortly got the second rockslide, that has the best view:

This is what the second rockslide looks like – not terribly long (not like the ones on the 511):

We stopped here and ate lunch. The sun felt good, but the wind would kick up occasionally and be REALLY cold. After lunch, I decided to try and fly my drone – it was pretty windy, but I did get a bit of video:

After that, we packed up and continued south on the trail. Past that second rockslide, the trail is in really good shape, with very few logs:

A bit further down the trail, I saw this and just had to take a photo – a really nice old blaze next to some nice tread:

I little bit further we got to the third rockslide which is kind of short, but interesting:

It was in this area where it started to get REALLY, REALLY cold. I had taken off my hat and gloves earlier as I was too hot, but in this area, I needed all of it. When the wind kicked up, it was bitterly cold – my nose was almost numb!

As we got past the third rockslide, I saw evidence of very recent maintenance – this year I’m sure – I was up here last year and there were a bunch of logs across the trail:

The cutting continued as we got further south, so I’m guessing someone came from the south and was working their way north. The old cut area that always has a TON Of blowdown in it was completely clear of downed logs when we went thru, which was a really nice surprise. Last year there were quite a few downed logs in this area.

We continued on until we got to the beginning of the 270 spur (close to it). It was so cold and there really isn’t a whole lot to see after that, so I decided to make that our turn around point. We headed back, enduring the biting cold until we got a little lower on the trail.

When we got back down to the flat area, where the Tarzan Springs trail takes off, I decided to head down that trail since we still had a bit of time. We headed down the trail, which has quite a few downed logs on it. About a third of the way down, there was a jumble of logs – I stepped on one which was icy/slippery and whacked my left shin on the log. It hurt a LOT – I continued down, limping a bit. We got to another even worse jumble of logs and given my leg was really bothering me, and I was by myself, I decided to turn around. I think that was a good decision.

We soon got back up to the trail and continued back north. In one of the areas with a smattering of snow, I saw some recent deer prints:

We made good time getting back down the trail, and after a bit, my leg stopped hurting so much. When we got back to the obliterated area, I did a little bit of cutting and exposing of tread – it needs a LOT more work in here, but at least I started a little bit.

We made it back to the truck and packed up. I backed down and turned around on the 020 spur and then headed out 4650. When we got to the log across the road, I decided to stop and cut it off the road. When I went to open the tailgate, I noticed I had lost (again) the cap to my hitch safe. I quickly cut the log off the road and then decided to turn around and see if I could find the cap – I swear I had re-checked it to make sure it was on tight before we left. We went all the way back to the trailhead and I went up and looked where I turned around and there it was laying in the dirt. I think I hit it when I backed up or something which knocked it off. I was glad I went back!

It was a great fall trip with beautiful weather. I doubt these higher elevation trails will be accessible much longer this year.