Eightmile-Trout Creek #1554

Headed up to the summit of Cashmere Mountain via Windy Pass. Trail is completely snow-free and easily traveled to Windy Pass at 7200'. Noted one large blow-down on the trail before Little Eightmile Lake and some over-grown trail conditions for the first couple of miles of 1554 after leaving 1552. Followed the south side of the ridge from Windy Pass to the north side of Cashmere crossing 4 small patches of semi-steep snow on the north side of Cashmere. Traversed the north side of Cashmere until the ridge drops away on the eastern side into the valley below. Scrambled to the summit block via the ridge on the northern side going between the eastern and western sides of that north running ridge. Trick is to stay at 8000'-8100' as long as you can before getting on that left hand (Northern) ridge before heading to the summit. Scrambling to the summit was actually fun considering the exposure was minimal with the hand and foot holds being plentiful and solid. Summit block provided a gorgeous view of Stuart, Rainier, Baker, Glacier Peak and Little Annapurna just to name a few. There is enough room for a couple of people to sit comfortably on the summit. It looked like there is quite a bit snow left on Little Annapurna up in the Enchantments. Overall an excellent trip on a gorgeous trip. Saw 3 other people on the trail the whole day, one of which was at Windy Pass upon my descent from Cashmere. Some may consider this hike strenuous. Left the car at 5:40am and got back to the car at 5:45pm with some 20 miles of hiking behind me with 5200' of elevation gain to the summit from the trailhead. I had an ice-axe and crampons but never used the crampons. A trekking pole could've been substituted for the ice axe if steep snow doesn't bother you.