So how do you get to this old segment?  Just cross country down the hill west from the junction to Dickey Lake?  Or is there a better/easier way?  Sounds like an interesting place.  I kind of wanted to do this trail - a good loop up to the lookout and then back via dickey lake.....Haven't been to Pansy Lake in a LONG time.

Donovan said:

Not sure if I am at the right falls or not as I never went to the mine or back down to the road.

You are at the right falls. Originally there was a campground in the woods just south of the falls, and when the current trail was installed, a trail was cut zigzagging down the steep slope to the campground. Now that campground is little used but being right on the old trail its an easy spot to access it, especially for anyone adverse to the noble art of bushwhacking.

Rob Williams said:

So how do you get to this old segment?  Just cross country down the hill west from the junction to Dickey Lake?  Or is there a better/easier way?  Sounds like an interesting place.

Actually the junction to Dickey Lake is too far if coming from the Pansy trailhead, though I am sure with enough bushwhacking anywhere along 551 would work given enough exploration time.

Start up the current 551 and continue until you can see benches downhill on your right. For some distance along the trail a bushwhack could be started anywhere with fairly easy going. There is one section of the old trail which for all world looks like a seasonal creek, others with moderate sections of blowdown, and still others with a goodly encroachment of alder, willow or rhododendron. I have never been able to follow it down to the road.

One of the interesting things about this part of Pansy Basin is that it is floored by the massive deposits from a single huge landslide running more than 2000 ft along the canyon. This is a rock hoppers heaven, and a good break from the woods and a good route right into Pansy Meadows and the old trail. From there the old trail heads up the west side canyon slopes and on to the mine and finally up the headwall by a zigzag route which may still be noticed from the current trail, which it crosses several times.

This basin still holds a couple of secret spots I have yet to visit and getting to those is on my list for this Summer.

Donavon, is the current photo in question an abandoned trail and is it in a wilderness area?

Amazingly, it is in a  wilderness free zone.

D.

Fanton Trail?

Looks to be at least 4000'...