Head up to Green Mountain to celebrate our indepence. Could you think of a better way? Anyway the trail is good shape until just before the basin were it becomes all snow. You can easily find your way to the basin by following footprints, from the basin its every man for himself in terms of the route. I ended up going to far to the east and had to traverse over. I had no views. About five minutes before the top it started snowing, that quickly turn to hail. One of the highlights of the evening would have to have been the bald eagle that circled over the basin twice, I thought that was fitting it being the fourth and all.

Snow level is at about 3200 feet. When we were there, the snow on the NE side of the mountain was a sheet of ice and the trail completely covered. Lacking ice axe, route finding skills, and another human to get help (""we"" being me and my dog), I thought it best to turn around and plan on coming back later. But it was amazingly beautiful up until that point, and the 2 miles we were able to do was almost worth the 2 hour drive. Also, found a great little campground - Buck Creek. Campsites are spaced far apart, great canyon, and $10 a night. Good base for doing dayhikes. To get there: Drive I-5 to Arlington Darington exit (hwy 532). Go to Darrington and take a left at the end of town (still hwy 532). Immediately after crossing the Sauk River Bridge make a right onto Suiattle River Road. Go 20 miles on mostly paved road and turn Left on a very will signed road. A steep, rocky, fun road takes you to the trailhead after 6 miles.

Well, I'll tell you what... this one is not for the children, but if you like to glissade, boy are you in for a treat. (But hurry... the snow's a-meltin!) Photos will be posted to www.webofsteve.com tonight. Ken, Mike and I left Seattle about 2pm Friday afternoon and made it to the trailhead somewhere around 4:30. Sunshine was the theme of the weekend, and that evening was no exception. We had the mountain to ourselves, and it was, to date, the second most rewarding hike of my life. (check out my Goat Flats pictures for #1) The trail on the south face of the mountain (the longest section) was dry, but steep and there were several blowdowns. Not terribly difficult for dayhikers, but our backpacks made for quite an interesting ascent. We broke free of the forest many times, and for great distances, to walk through what must have given this mountain it's name: green, green meadows. Wildflowers were everpresent, but just beginning to show color, so I look forward to returning to this trail later in the year! The second half of the hike was the best (or worst, depending on your point of veiw...) as the North and East faces of the mountain as we neared the summit were completely covered in snow. We trudged up what I considered brutal inclines, and arrived at the base of the bowl beneath the Lookout at about 8pm. The climb to the summit looked positively vertical (and of course, completely blanketed with snow) and we weren't sure the Lookout was sturdy enough to support the three of us sleeping. (Earlier reports warn that the lookout's foundation might be unstable despite all recent restoration work. :( - Hopefully someone will make it all the way and report back to us!) We knew we didn't have time to make it before sunset, so rather than camp in the cold, snowy bowl, we decided to set up a home on top of the ridge - elevation 5988'; about 500' below and just southeast of the summit. Stunning views of Glacier Peak, Buckindy and White Chuck Mountain awaited us along a narrow ridge at the top. Beautiful green slopes lay before us the south and amazing drifts of white snow threatened to break off just feet from our tent and go crashing down a vast bowl of smooth snow. (The skiers we passed on our way our looked like they already knew about these bowls, but if you're looking and haven't been here... check it out right away. It looked like it would stay for a while yet, but a few more weeks and ...) Overall, this is a MUST DO for the seasoned hiker, but it's at least as strenuous as Mt. Si (much more so, of course, if you're doing the snow route.) The hike up took us about 3 1/2 hours, (including a couple of scouting trips - sans pack - to the aforementioned ridge looking for a flat, dry place) and we made it back down in just under 2 and a half hours. Well, off to plan the next one. Pugh has my interest ... we'll see though! See you out there!

Just a note to say that the official Forest Service reports as of Sunday 6/16 are a little misleading. The trail was easy to follow past patches of snow to 5000', not 4200'. From there, one should have an ice axe. I did not and turned back at about 5200'. One nasty block from a blow-down was encountered. Great wildflower viewing in the meadows. Saw a bear on the road about a mile from the trailhead.

We headed for some high alpine vistas and checked in at the Darrington Ranger station. They recommended Green Mountain. We were pleased to find not only incredible mountain vistas but early wildflowers. The meadows were covered in bright yellow glacier lilies nodding in the wind. Perfect, pristine trilliums in white or pink graced the trail sides. Other tiny white and purple flowers I couldn't identify were carpeting the ground beneath the lilies. How I'd love to duplicate this at home! I could see the new leaves pushing up promising many more flowers to come. Beautiful sun and warm, snow still covering parts of trail and some large fallen trees to maneuver around. Very rewarding trip for this time of the season. We were also pleased to see marmots, a grouse, chipmunk, frog, snake and hear beautiful birdsong. The bugs are beginning to happen, so bring repellant on this one, but the wildflowers are definitely worth it and the surrounding snowcapped peaks!