Signal Peak Trail Hike
	Trip Date:  02/23/2014 Distance: 9.2 Miles Vertical Gain: 2400' Group Size: 3 Hike Rating:  Easy   Moderate    Hard    Strenuous	GPX for this trip
	Start Coordinates:   N 39 18.726  W 120 32.656     End Coordinates:   Same as Start Coordinates   Car Shuttle Req'd:   No Parking Directions:   Take Highway 80 to the Cisco Grove Exit. Turn left (north) back over the freeway. Turn left on Hampshire Rocks Road, and pull into the Cisco Grove store on the left.   There is a fee for parking here. Hazards of Note:   Steep climb to the top. Difficult to find the correct junction to turn off the road to head upward. Crowd Factor:   Minimal.  This is a popular winter destination for snow-shoeing and cross country skiing but summer is relatively quiet. General Notes: This trail starts off at the parking lot at Cisco Grove, just off highway 80.  Head up the dirt road (Fordyce Lake Road) for about a mile and a half.  The spot to cut up the mountain toward the peak is very easy to miss, but is marked with a number of colored ribbon tags along the left side of the trail.  The actual coordinates for this spot are N 39 19.492, W 120 32.355.  You will then generally follow a use trail up the steep slope of the mountain, first toward the west before it then cuts back north east and then hits some switchbacks as you get closer to the top.   The first ridge that you come upon, still to the west of the actual summit contains an old stone structure that was used by the railroad to watch the tracks across the valley and spot any avalanches which might impede train travel.  Continue up the ridge past this until you reach the actual summit.  There are a number of radio and communication towers here, making the summit obvious.
	Mark and Phil at the start of our journey.
	Looking south along the hike up the trail to Mt. Anderson and Tinker Knob.
	Phil taking a quick break along the hike up the mountain..
	Greg stopped for a moment on the uphill climb.
	Approaching the old avalanche lookout stone building near the summit.
	A look out the south windows toward the landscape.
	Looking east toward North Lake Tahoe.
	More of the amazing vistas we had from the summit..
	Phil crossing the ridgeline toward the true summit of Signal Peak.
	Looking north from the summit toward Lake Fordyce.
	Mark and Phil on their way back down the mountain.
	A raging waterfall that was flowing into the Yuba river along our trail.
	GPX image of the hike.