This trail begins as a
long fairly gentle assent with a short decent to the Commonwealth/Pacific Crest trail junction at 2.5 miles from the parking lot. After walking through a short meadow the real climbing begins (it is another 2.5 miles to Red Pass). This is a fairly steep assent to the cirque below Red Mountain. There is a little tarn (I hesitate to even call it that) at the base of the cirque. Just before the tarn, watch for a trail leading to the right marked by a couple of rock cairns. If you still have enough gas in your tank, take this trail up to the ridge and Red Pass. The views will recharge your battery! Just before the ""trail abandoned"" sign at the pass climb up on a knob overlooking the mountains and valleys to the North. Mother Nature put a rock ""chair"" on the top which will allow you to take a load off and admire the views, which are unbelieveable. Make sure to take plenty of water because it is a steep climb up to the cirque and not a lot of water is available. If your still itching to hike more, try walking along the ""abandoned trail"" to the west. Questions, comments. email Jay at jjano@emeraldnet.net

I
hadn't been to the Red Town side of Cougar Mountain for a few years and was surprised--dismayed--to see the enormous amount of development encrouching the park. But the area is still remarkably beautiful, and it provided a great spring hike. We started at the Red Town trailhead and followed the Wildside Trail to the Marshall Hill trail and took that up to DeLeo Wall through lovely dense forest. From DeLeo Wall we continued to Far Country Lookout where we ate lunch and enjoyed a fine view that even included the Olympics faintly in the distance. We continued to the Shy Bear Trail (which takes you through a particularly beautiful area with a long boardwalk to get you over a swampy section)to Fred's trail and then the Quarry trail, and finally to Cold Creek Falls. Although it was a sunny Sunday afternoon, there were only a few people at the Falls (which are quite wonderful at this time of year). I am impressed with the well-tended trails and the great trailsigns.

After getting skunked
finding Circle Peak (our fault) on the last beautiful day of the year, the question was ""what now'"". We drove up to Rockport to get gas and just kept going down the North Cascade Highway. After Diablo, we decided to see if the road was closed yet. Despite severe frosting (and several newly flipped vehicles-yikes again!), the NCH was indeed open on Nov 15! After the glory of Washington Pass, we found ourselves a long ways from home on the East Side of the Cascades. Being only prepared for a cold dayhike, we were forced to bivauc in a cheap hotel in Chelan. What would be the season ender in the 'high peaks'' With our new map, we spotted Red Mt (trail #1330 across from Davis and Jolly), on the EAST side of Snoqualmie. To get there, drive I-90 E or W to exit 80 or S on 97 to 903 (as in our convoluted case). Stay on 903 until road 46 (on the left). The trailhead is about 2 miles up #46, barely marked, and parking for only one vehicle. Although dainty, the trail is easy to follow (recent work'). The trail starts steep, passing some selective logging reminiscent of an airy Colorado alpine forest. Eventually the trail crosses a stream several times; each crossing was in a different phase of freezing, creating various hazards. The snow started around 4500 and was icy enough to warrant ice axes. It started to snow around this time. Looking up at the gray skies I though, ""could snow at this time of year be benign'"". No answers. The trail became faint through a frozen marsh. An icy meadow gave views to boulder fields and rocky summits to the north. After the trail disappeared we scrambled up to the summit ridge, and were dismayed to see those rocky summits were still higher, with some exposed class 3 scrambling required to reach them. Braving the fierce wind, I scaled the first, only to find the next one was higher. I scaled that one to find the next one MIGHT be higher. However, the clouds were coming in fast, and even if it wasn't the true peak it was close enough! After some difficulties finding the trail again, we beat a hasty retreat as the snowflakes became larger and Jolly Mt. disappeared. Frozen ground and loose rocks caused ball bearing conditions (and several near-spills). The snow followed us to the car, but stopped around 1200 ft. Off to the Brick for a snack before dealing with the pass. Thankfully, pass conditions would be good for another 12 hrs or so...a perfect pre-snow hike. -Daytripper (the hiker formally known as troy)