Mailbox Peak

     Since I became a "weekend" hiker about 4 years ago, this trail might have been the steepest average grade I've hiked over a two and a half mile distance. The sweet thing about this trail is that the difficulty only lasts a relatively short amount of time, and you get the absolute awesome joy of peaking to a 360-degree view very quickly. Today was clear, making the reward of climbing this hike much more than just an accomplishment for your conditioning. A panoramic view of the snow-topped Cascades, Mt Baker, Seattle, The Olympia Mountains,and Mt.Rainier was much different from the visual rewards I was used to after peaking mountains when I lived in California.

    As far as the technical issues regarding this hike, you don't NEED extra gear other than a good pair of quality hiking boots to get to the top and back, but once you start getting past the snowline at 3500ft+, you're going to wish you had an ice axe or hiking poles for extra balance, and some shoe chains or crampons. Without them, my hiking partner and I chose to improvise a little bit by going slightly off-trail to avoid the packed icy snow on the steepest parts of the trail, that is until we got into the open sun and the snow softens up. Physically speaking, the biggest surprise of the trail is when you get past the tree line and realize that the last third of the hike involves some ridge line hiking providing grades in the 50% +/- range. Here, the snow is on top of some boulders in certain parts, and not all the diamond-shaped trail markers are visible. It is important to climb slowly and safely, and watch your steps especially if you're hiking up later in the day when the snow gets very soft. On the way down, I took advantage of the snow and glissaded alongside the trail, down the areas where the grade was the sharpest until getting back into the trees. If you do this, your legs will thank you for it in the end. Just don't be inconsiderate and slide on top of the trail so that you destroy the footsteps other hikers can use on their way up.

      All in all I give this hike a 7 out of 10 in overall brutality, and a perfect 10 to use for conditioning. If you can do this hike all the way up to the top and back down, you are in good enough condition to handle most any other trail hike in the region, maybe even the entire state :)