Fanton Trail

I got out yesterday and went and hiked most of the Fanton Trail.  The 4614 road (Squaw Mountain rd) is impassible a little ways past the 4613 turnoff due to snow, but 4613 was clear to the trailhead.  The snow is really odd this year.  It seems to be deepest in a pretty specific elevation.  Either higher or lower it is clear, but from about 3400-3600', it can still be 18-24" deep or more.  The weird thing is how quickly the snow comes on.  The trail is basically clear, and then all of a sudden it goes fro nothing to over a foot deep.  This was the first time I hiked the lower section of the trail, so I wasn't quite sure where it went, but it was pretty easy to follow, until the snow came.  Fortunately, at the lower elevation, someone had gone before me, so I followed the old footprints through the snow.  After that stretch, the trail cleared for a while, and it was easy going.  Then the snow returned, however there were not any footprints to follow, and I couldn't find the trail.  Couldn't see any obvious paths, and couldn't see any blazes.  I probably could have keep going in the general direction, but I decided to turn around.    I made it probably 3.5 miles up the trail.  The lower section of the trail has been cleared, however there are still a couple of downed trees over the upper section I hiked.  None of them are difficult to traverse, and the trail is in very good shape.  I did some trimming of vegetation and threw some branches off the trail to help a little bit.

I was hoping to make it up to Squaw Mountain, but that will have to wait for another day.  Someday that snow will melt!