Orange flower 3 25 26.JPG

Trip Report    

Snow Mountain Ranch

Wild flowers starting to bloom. Good parking no permit needed.

  • Wed, Mar 25, 2026
  • Snow Mountain Ranch
  • Day Hiking
  • Successful
  • Road suitable for all vehicles
  • We took White Pass and going it was clear and dry. Coming home was white out of wintery mix/snow. Saw herds of resident Elk in Packwood, grazing in fields and neighborhoods, use caution! 

    Packwood bakery was open and well stocked. Tietan river running strong along the hwy.  

    Good parking at trail head, no permit needed. Restroom port a potty is down trail by creek. Dogs are permitted, we saw a lot of evidence of coyote scat on the trail. Many birds singing but only saw a few. 

Low wildflowers are out and blooming. We hiked counter clockwise and flowers were more prolific on the uphill. Take the Wildflower trail if you want to see the old bathtub, we missed it taking the outer route up. Trails are generally well marked at all intersections. 

On the downhill  be careful to not continue down hill to the cow pasture, you hike down a bit then need to go up and meet the trail back. Unless you want to see cows, then follow the short spur down, we saw several largeish burrows but not the type of animals that made them? 

A few trails are "closed" with branches over them. It was cool, windy at the top but the Sun felt good. Balsam root not blooming yet, my guess is a few more weeks.