[ragman and rodman]

The poor weather in the Cascades pushed us further east in search of some sunshine. The crux of the trip was trying to find a parking spot that didn't require a Sno-Park Permit... and we found a free parking area .7 miles east of Blewett Pass... where there is room for perhaps 6 cars... and do be on your toes as you near the spot because it can sneak up on you. Snowshoes were used from the git-go (3938') and stayed on all day... as we used a combination of the Tronsen Loop Trail, Upper Tronsen Road Trail, Lillaby Tie Trail, Haney Meadow Trail and some off-trail travel to reach the summit of Windy Knob (5928')... where the wind literally blew us off the summit. From Windy Knob we had to give back some elevation as we worked our way around one of several drainages that feed Tronsen Creek... where we found the View Ridge Loop Trail... which we followed on up to the summit of Tronsen Head (5988'). Leaving Tronsen Head we continued east along Tronsen Ridge until we found a comfortable place to get off of the ridge and work our way back down to the Upper Tronsen Road Trail... which we followed back to the spot where we closed the loop portion of the trip... then traced our steps back to the car. 7.5 miles roundtrip, gaining 2442 feet of elevation. Photos, Trailhead directions and downloadable GPS track of our trip to Windy Knob and Tronsen Head. ..

[RichP]

Thanks or the tip on the parking area. Quite a bit of bare ground up there.

[kitya]

Thank you very much for the amazing trip report with all the details, including the gps track. Followed in your footsteps today.

[FredV]

Thanks for the trip beta. Friday we did the Windy Knob and Tronsen Head loop. Started at the SnoPark at Blewett Pass and did the loop counter clockwise. Used snowshoe for the upper section. Still lots of Western Larch trees in fall colors.

[zephyr]