Bare Mountain — Monday, Jul. 21, 2014

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

8.25mi RT 1050m ascent. This was quite the long drive, and not entirely obvious. One drives north through North Bend, must find the correct city street out of towne, and then find the correct (uphill) section, which is unmarked, in the housing development. That road is actually fairly well paved and established for a while, so it's not obvious that one is in the correct place. Moreover, there are several parallel roads further north that are inaccessible or off limits. Nevertheless, the road proceeds to the north several miles before heading east. There is lots of foresting taking place in this area, so some of the roads are rough. There are plenty of turnouts, small bridges, weird gravel pits, and so forth. The trail to Bare Mountain is not at the end of the road, but near. There is parking for two or three cars at most. The trail is similar to Dirty Harry's at the beginning, with a lot of rock, with a trail similar to a stream bed. Eventually one ascends into the forest, and then into miles of ferns. Because it rained over night, the ferns were still wet and, wearing shorts and a tshirt, I got rather soaked. The ferns, including some thorns, were endless. I almost turned around, but decided to keep going because I was already wet. I doubt that rain pants would have much helped given the amount of water. Eventually I made it out of the underbrush (I can't imagine what it would be like in summer) and into the midlands. At this point the trail goes up rather quickly and, given how much energy I used in the ferns trying to find footing, it was difficult to keep much speed. I made it to the top eventually. There's some old chain, markers, and building anchors up there. The views would have been better but it was still cloudy. This is a nice hike, but it's a very lengthy drive and the hike is a bit on the short side for that much driving. I don't know if/when I'll be back.