Today was another late start due to work getting canceled at the last minute. I have been thinking about visiting Greenway Mountain near Mt Washington and Change Peak for months, waiting for snow to make the off-trail sections less painful for the dogs and humans involved. Several other factors made this an ideal day for the trip, including a relatively low avalanche danger forecast and a short drive to the trailhead (45 minutes from Seattle) to compensate for the late start.

With and roads covering most of the routes and a complete lack of necessary travel on South facing slopes, this would even make a good destination during moderate avy danger, though I would not recommend approaching from the Hall Point trail during such conditions. I also would not take a dog above Hall Point under any conditions as it would require significant added road-walking mileage, elevation loss, and/or bushwhacking in order to avoid loose, rough 30-degree-plus terrain with some exposure. The Great Wall Trail is a much more dog friendly route and adds less than 2 miles to the trip.

From exit 38 I parked at the gated road east of Hall Creek, crossed under an old railroad bridge and followed the Zig Zag Trail up to the John Wayne Pioneer Trail, where the unofficial Hall's Point trail has two obvious starting points. The one further to the West next to Change Creek starts with a short scramble assisted by some fixed webbing. The dog-friendly entrance is behind a short section of railing to the East.

We made great time up the windy gully despite the trail being mostly covered in ice and compacted snow. About a mile from the John Wayne Pioneer Trail a boot path branches off towards what I thought was Halls Point. Automahn had a bit of trouble crossing a sharp and narrow section of ridge on the way out. Views were unobstructed from McClellan Butte to Mount Si, but continuing past the turnoff and up the ridge I found a sign pointing to Hall Point, still ahead. The snow at this point (about 2500') was about 2 feet deep and mostly firm below a few inches of powder in open areas, and about 6" of cascade concrete under canopy.

I strapped on my snowshoes before crossing the first apparent road around 3500'. Auto had some difficulty with the steepness of the ridge above, which looked like it only got worse, so we dropped back and followed the road toward the south. After losing about 200' of elevation we started through thinly spaced trees directly up the slope to the West. Across the next road up, the slope became steeper and trees gave way to massive stumps, mostly buried in the snow. With increased exposure the snow became harder and my snowshoes seemed to barely penetrate the surface. At this point I regretted leaving my ice axe behind, and decided it would have been much smarter to have continued further south into the protection of the forest before beginning the ascent. Either way, up was the safest option from where we sat so up we went to the road at the top of the ridge at 4100'.

The road brought us nearly to the summit of Greenway Mountain. The sky was mostly overcast around 10,000', covering the top of Tahoma but leaving the rest of the Cascades in clear view. Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan sat in the saddle between Mount Teneriffe and Green Mountain. Chester Morse Lake and the start of the Cedar River were in full view. I had a great vantage point on the two small peaks on the ridge to Mount Washington, each with about 200' of prominence.

Other than the short bushwhacks to the two small summits, the rest of our descent was on roads or trails. We could have saved a mile or two on the way out by dropping down towards Change Creek and exiting via the Hall's Point Trail, but being unfamiliar with the route and with the sun setting soon, we made our way out via the Great Wall and Mount Washington Trails. I somehow managed to make a wrong turn following mostly buried tracks along the road, but luckily realized my mistake before having to backtrack too far.

Compact snow and ice covered most of the trails below 3000'. We passed 3 hikers on their way in on the Mount Washington Trail, the only souls I had seen all day. I planned on taking the John Wayne all the way back to the Zig Zag Trail above my car, but frigid winds at the start of the bridge over Change Creek sent us down early on the Change Creek Trail. Compact snow and ice covered most of the trails below 3000'

~12 miles round trip
~5000' elevation gain
4 hours up to Greenway Mountain
3 hours down

more pictures and route info @ http://jebtastic.blogspot.c[…]in-and-points-4304-and.html

Most of the mountain peaks around North Bend were shrouded in fog today... But not Mount Washington! What a beautiful day to snowshoe!

Expect snow from Olallie State Park: Twin Falls Traihead all the way to the top. Hiking trail from the trailhead to about 3700" was compact from multiple snowshoe treks along w/ a thin layer of dry powdered snow. After that, the snow was a bit deep, even with snowshoes.

The first 2 miles to the Owl Bench had a few spots of ice from springs crossing the trail. This also made for an impressive series of icicle "falls" on the rock walls. Technically, the easiest part of the trail!

When I reached the sign at the Y junction where you can either take the Great Wall Trail (L) or continue to Mount. Washington (R), I stayed to the right. You will be breaking new ground if you decide to take the Great Wall Trail on the left.

The right trail to Mount Washington has you crossing Washington Creek, which was icy and slick and then continues up to a tarn (lake?) in the basin. This is where waterproof boots and hiking poles are VERY handy.

There is another Y created at the tarn (lake?). The trail on the left looks like it follows the actual trail, but hasn't been used and to the right is the compacted "rogue trail" everyone has been following.

I actually turned around at this point because I wasn't sure which way to go. As I made my decent down the trail, I met up with a couple awesome gals who knew the way and let me caravan with them. You rock! ^_^

So we took the "rogue trail" that followed the right side of the tarn (lake?) further into the basin and came upon a 200' hill that could be a potential hazard for avalanche. The caravan I had joined decided to call it quits for the day, but I assessed the trail and the snow and it seemed safe to climb.

**Note: Please use your best judgement if you get to this point. I believe the more people who follow in these tracks, especially during this cold snap, could eventually cause a slide!**

Once I reached the top of this hill, it evens out and walks out onto an open ridge (elevation about 4350') with the BEST view of the trek!

I then continued forward, which led me back into the woods where it looked like it finally met with the logging road you expect at the top. Unfortunately, the trailblazers continue to climb unsafe hills that I was unwilling to follow. I didn't reach the summit with the weather vein due to time restraints, but the viewpoint at 4350' was enough for me!

Recommend: Snowshoes, hiking poles, layered clothing and waterproof boots.

P.S. Make sure you know how to use all your hiking equipment!

Went up the Great Wall Trail from the Mt. Washington trail. The Mt. Washington trail was snow covered with a nice trench almost from the start. (Traction would be helpful, but probably not essential. Snowshoes would be helpful above the Owl spot, but again, probably not essential as the snow was very well compacted.) Though I turned left at the branch for the Great Wall Trail, I was told that trench went all the way to the pond and stopped. Above there, on the way up Mt. Washington, you'd be breaking trail unless someone else did so late in the day.
The Great wall trail has a minor snowshoe trench (it looks like a party of two preceded me) almost all the way through the woods until about a quarter mile below where it gets on the road. I broke trail the rest of the way and up the road (which had at least 3 feet of snow on it) all the way up the bowl below Change peak. My intention was to go all the way across the Great Wall and onto Greenway Mt., but the going was too slow to make it there and back on the shortest day of the year. All in all, a beautiful day in the Mountains. I didn't see a soul after I left he Mt. Washington trail.

It was a surprisingly beautiful and sunny day on Mt. Washington, and despite clouds and fog blanketing virtually every other mountain in the vicinity, Mt. WA seemed completely immune.

I had hiked most of the way to Change Peak last Thursday with M., and it got snowy and hard-going near the top during our scramble. Today, only three days later, the snow was virtually gone, with just a bit of graupel underfoot.

We hiked up the main Mt. WA trail to the Change Peak turn-off (about 2.5 miles from the parking lot), and followed the trail to the road, then up around the East side of Change Peak, and onward to the watershed boundary and then up to the Mt. Washington summit. We took the main Summer trail back down.

This was a glorious day, and if you have the chance to do this hike soon, don't miss it! It's about 10.5 miles total, and the path is easy to find right now. Some details on the route are here in a previous trip report:

http://www.wta.org/[…]/trip_report.2011-05-29.1922843809