Palisade Trail #44 - Lower

Dogs Unknown

Hope you are warmed up, if not you'll be soon. The climbing begins immediately. Keep climbing a keep a lookout for outcropping to your right, they are great places to check out the view.

While the ridge trends upwards until maxing out at Palisade Mountain, there are a few sidehills and one steep rocky downhill. Most of the trail is littered with rocks and on the steeper sections they may trip you up so be careful. Halfway to the top, a snowbank manages to cling to the trail until mid July. It doesn't really present much of an obstacle. After the snowbank a few of the knobs along the way tend to be full of wild flowers in the early summer.

Once at Palisade Mountain climb the rocks to the top. The view is spectacular and hopefully there will be a breeze to keep away the mosquitos that swarm the trail.

The descent from the high point starts out steep and eroded until mellowing out into a rolling descent to the junction with Willow Creek.