Today’s hike was one I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I wasn’t sure how much snow we’d encounter so I didn’t know how far we’d get, but things worked out pretty well. I usually hike the Fanton trail at least once a year, usually in the winter when some of the ugly spots look pretty with snow on them. This was my first time this year – I hiked it just about a year ago.

We headed out a little later than normal since it was close. I wasn’t sure where we would be able to drive to. I really wanted to try and get to the top of Squaw Mtn, but it is a long trip if you have to start from the bottom. The modeled snow depth map showed snow along the whole length of the trail (which kind of surprised me), but I figured we’d just see what we encountered. Thankfully, there was no snow at the 4613 junction (where the trail starts) so I continued up 4614 to see how far I could get. I was able to drive to an un-mapped spur road that connects to the trail. That saved about 4 miles of hiking (2 miles each way). It looked like just beyond that spur road there was probably too much snow to continue on 4614, so we were lucky.

We suited up and headed out, quickly getting on the trail. That side spur road people had been shooting on and there was garbage everywhere unfortunately. This area of the forest is close to town and people tend to shoot in all sorts of inappropriate spots and when they do, they usually leave a mess behind.

It wasn’t long before we got to the first landing area and got a nice view to the south. It was pretty clear so we got a good view – I took this annotated picture showing all the mountains:

After enjoying that initial view for a bit, we continued down the old road/trail. It wasn’t too long before we got to the 4614-167 crossing where there has been a LOT of shooting occurring and it is quite a mess. Looking around, someone has dumped an old boat:

And also an old shell of a car. There is TONS of garbage strewn around. The really bad part is that people are shooting down the road and the trail crosses the road! One of the nice things about being able to get out mid week is that I didn’t hear a single gunshot or see another person all day long – it was really nice.

After looking around and taking a bunch of pictures (to be forwarded to the Forest Service if they want them), we continued down the trail. It wasn’t long before we saw the first little bit of snow of the day (at least on the trail):

It wasn’t much, but it would change pretty soon. I was surprised how much snow we encountered. As we were nearing the corner (where 4614 takes a turn to the north), we passed by a kind of interesting rock formation that was right next to the trail. I don’t recall seeing it before so I had to take a picture of it:

We soon got to the short spur road that heads out to a landing at the corner. This is what 4614 looked like at the corner:

We walked down the spur road out to the landing and soaked up more of the views. As we were standing there, it sounded like the small un-named creek that heads down from there had a waterfall on it. We walked down thru the brush, following the sound to see if that was true. While it was really hard to get a good picture, there were several small cascades on the creek which were kind of pretty:


After looking at the cascades, we headed back up to the landing and then re-joined the trail again. It kind of follows the un-named creek for a bit. Shortly after leaving the landing, the snow started to get deeper in spots:

Along the way, I cleared a couple of small downed logs and branches off the trail – there was one larger log that I cleaned up as best I could – it is now a crawl over log – not too bad.

We continued up the trail and the snow got more regular and deeper. When we got to the junction of the Old Baldy trail and Fanton, the snow was mostly covering the trail, but still not too deep. Snowshoes were definitely not needed at that point. As we continued going higher, it continued to get deeper, but it was mostly well compacted so wasn’t too bad without snowshoes. As we got near the junction where Old Baldy trail continues east and the Squaw Mountain trail continues south, the snow got deeper:

We continued on, following (mostly) the footsteps from the weekend. When we got to one of the open areas along the edge, the snow got REALLY deep:

Once on top of that big snow drift, I noticed there appeared to be recent new snow in the footprints we’d been following. I think the rain we had last weekend fell as snow up here. It wasn’t a lot, maybe 1/2-1″, but it was definitely new:

As we got higher, the going got tougher, and snowshoes would have been helpful. We weren’t too far from the top, so we kept going. The sidehill spots below the road were pretty challenging – it was steep and the snow was very deep:

We finally pushed our way to the road just below the top:

And soon saw the radio repeater, which was about half buried in snow:

Compare that to our trip in 2021 where it was completely buried:

We made our way up to the top and walked out to the south side. Mt Hood was hiding in the clouds:

And I got this good view looking southeast from Squaw Mountain:

On the way to the old lookout location I got this good view of what it looked like – there was probably 3′ or more of snow:

We went back north to the old lookout location and I found a bare rock to sit on and had lunch.

After eating lunch, we headed back down. The trip down was almost as hard as the trip up – at least until we got to the junction. That is where the snow got less deep. At that point, we made pretty good time heading back down. I did some more cleanup on the trail as we went down. When we got back to the landing at the corner, I noticed this fresh print in the snow – I don’t think it was there when we headed up:

I kind of think that looks like a kitty print – maybe it was there when we headed up and I didn’t see it, or maybe he came down while we were up above. They are certainly out there!

We made the rest of the trip pretty quickly with no issues. It was easier to come down than it was to go up! It was a beautiful, calm, peaceful day in the woods!