I hiked a clockwise loop up the Change Creek trail and then via the Great Wall trail to the Mt. Washington summit.  I returned on the main Mt. Washington trail.

Don Gerald's June 16 report has a pretty good description of the first part of the trail.  The beginning of the Change Creek trail leading up from the John Wayne bike trail is quite steep, gaining over 1000 feet in about 3/4 mile.  Unlike Gerald, I continued on the cut-off trail past the pond, making a right turn at the unmarked junction.  This one-mile section of trail is fairly flat but very overgrown.  If, like me, you hit it on a morning after a rain or heavy fog, you are going to get wet.  In my case, both my boots and pants were soaked by the time I emerged onto the Olallie trail, although it was a dry and partially sunny day.

Once reaching the Great Wall trail, I turned left and followed it around the basin to the end of the road.  Toward the end of this road-turned-trail, there is a junction where you need to turn sharply to the right.  This is no longer an issue, since the alternative road (straight ahead) is now totally blocked with concrete dividers and No Trespassing signs.  Once reaching the end of the road, the trail to the summit goes straight ahead, initially very steeply, for the last 200 feet climb to the top.

I measured the ascent at 6.3 miles and about 3100 feet, where as the descent down the main trail was a little over 4 miles.  Despite the extra distance (and the wet shrubbery), doing the loop has the advantage of plenty of solitude and good views up the Snoqualmie valley from the Olallie and Great Wall trails.  After leaving the John Wayne trail I saw no one until I reached the summit.  There were perhaps a dozen or two hikers on the way down.

This is a good loop trail with plenty of varied scenery.  I parked at Homestead Valley TH.  A brief hike east on the Palouse to Cascades Trail brings one to the unmarked Change Creek Trail.  This climbs steeply up the rough rib between Change Creek and Hall Creek.  This bootleg trail is well made, but steep -- fine for hiking up, but I don't like coming down this trail, so doing this loop means you hike out on the comparitively civilized Mt. Washington Trail.

Beyond the spur trail to Hall Point, the trail emerges onto a series of ancient logging roads, and the grade suddenly moderates.  From here to the head of Change Creek Valley, the trail has become quite brushy again.  Next time I will bring clippers and a small saw.  You do the same please!  If each of us does a little, then no one will have to do a lot.  At the head of the valley, there is a sign with an arrow pointing to the right saying "Pond / Mt. Washington.  Rather than take this cutoff trail, which I do not like, I crossed the small creek and continued straight on the old road bed.  15 minutes of mild brush bashing brings you to the current start (or end) of the Olallie Trail.  This very fine trail continues north and up, to a high point on the north shoulder of Change Peak, just below it's summit.  There is a junction here.  Left is the Great Wall Trail, the old standard summit route to Mt. Washington.  Going right, the Great Wall Trail and Olallie Trail proceed together for a while, until the Great Wall Trail splits off to the right at a poorly marked junction.  (Alternately, just continue on the Olallie Trail until it intersects with the Mt. Washington Trail.)

The lower part of the Mt. Washington Trail is more eroded and rough than I've seen it before, and there are a few minor blowdowns.  

There was some snow at the head of Change Creek, near the pond, but it was so minimal, and melting fast, that I marked this hike "snow free".

3000' foot gain, 8 or 9 miles rt, but can easily be extended, so a good workout.

We hiked/scrambled up MMM Ridge above Hall Point. It is completely snow free and has some fun sections of rock scrambling on the ridge higher up. From Songbird Peak we followed the road to Greenway Mountain, and this is where we encountered snow still on much of the road, but it was firm enough to travel on with ease. We hiked past the propane tank at the viewpoint over the reservoir then scrambled up to the summit of Greenway.

We continued east on the snow-free road down to a 4-way junction, then made a sharp left onto a snowy old road that drops into the Hall Creek drainage. This road contains some long switchbacks, so we came to a point where we left the trail and hiked down through steep forest until we met the road again. From here the road was very overgrown with the alder bent and slumped over the road. We had to bash our way through quite a bit until we got out of the snow and reached the top of the Machu Picchu trail, then hiked down that trail down to Hall Creek trail. Both creek crossings had logs to cross on, but at the lower crossing the water is running pretty good, so use caution. Hiked out the really nice Hall Creek trail back to the trestles and walked back to Change Creek to complete the loop.

Having discovered the Change Creek trail coming down from Change Peak (on April 7), I decided to explore the area some more. What an adventure.

I parked at the Crags? parking lot (between Ollalie Homestead TH & So. Fork Picnic area) and made my way up along Change Creek and under the trestle up to the PalouseToCascades trail. There is a climbing area that is "roped" off due to a nesting Peregrine Falcon but fortunately it didn't include the entry to the Change Creek Trail. I once again skipped the side trails to Ollalie Knob and Hall Point. I got off the Change Creek Trail at a sign labeled "MMM ridge" and followed it up to J's Landing. (Your might want to get out your map. BTW - GAIA GPS topo includes these labeled viewpoints.) The next fork was at the terminus of FS-9023. I chose to continue up the (MMM) ridge not realizing that the dashed lines of the trail on the map had extra dashes which I take to mean it is hardly a trail at all. There were a couple short sections of class 3 scrambling and at one point there was a short section of knife edge that I felt more comfortable on all fours rather that trusting my balance. I briefly considered turning back but I figured if I could just make it past Easter Island then I could easily make it down FS-9023-310 even if was snow covered (to this point it was snow-free). The ridge up Songbird Peak looked easier (even with patchy snow) but I decided to save that for another day. I proceeded down FS-9023-310 without donning my boots with spikes and the snow was well consolidated - yay, only 1 posthole. I passed by the interesting looking Machu Picchu. Heading north on FS-9023 was getting pretty overgrown with slide alder until I got on the Hall Creek Trail which I used as a short cut to get back onto FS-9023 (I could've just stayed on the Hall Creek Trail but was concerned about crossing the creek further downstream). I crossed the 2 forks of Hall Creek without getting my feet terribly wet but I did change into dry socks afterwards. Back on the FS-9023, I saw a bear on the trail and when they saw me, they took off running. Then, I came to a pickup truck idling on the road with a couple people sitting in the back of it. Weird that the road is open to vehicles and weird that they left their engine running. I found the Zig-Zag trail and took it back down to Hall Creek and completed the loop just as it started raining. ~9.5 miles, 3000' gain.

This is rough and rugged area that I will be happy to explore some more in the future. Regardless of the trails origins, I would not tell anyone to "refrain" from using them but they are definitely not for everyone.   

Hiked up to Change Peak today. I really enjoy the Change Creek Trail. Thanks to the builders and maintainers of it. Melting snow coverage began at 2400' and got deep once you exit the trees onto the old road. I think I put my snow shoes on at 3400' briefly. Then I promptly took them off and went straight up to cut the long, meandering switchback. Probably more trouble than it's worth in these snow conditions. I think I would have rather enjoyed the views on the road.

Rejoined the road around 4000', snowshoes back on. Drank my coffee and enjoyed the windy summit for quite awhile. Snowshoes off and back on a few too many times, off for good ~3500'. I decided to make it a loop and come down Great Wall Trail which I'd never been on. It was the perfect forgiving amount of snow for running down. I forgot how rocky some of Mount Washington Trail is, not great for running. Enjoyed a relaxing walk on the Ironhorse back to Change Creek.

I didn't see anyone hiking all day. 10.3 miles 3440'.