I've always understood Dirty Harry's Peak to be an unremarkable minor peak on the I-90 corridor.  I wasn't expecting much.

But the lower trail (ending at the Ira Spring Connector junction) is really pleasant.  It offers some sights (river, access to a couple nice viewpoints over I-90) and nice forest & boulder field walk with modest elevation gain.  There were many hikers on this stretch.  Most appeared to be headed to Dirty Harry's Balcony, which is a good destination for an easy, pleasant mid-day hike.  Four stars.

The upper trail is, IMO, a two star affair.  It's great for training - a steep two mile grind - but is devoid of interesting viewpoints.  The summit is also unremarkable - forested and offering only partial views to the west and northeast.

Average score:  three stars.

Caution:  Plenty of snow remains on the upper trail after the last switchback.  I estimate three feet of snow lingering between the trees at the summit.

Trail: No major mud or trail issues. If you’re looking for snow, there’s still some up at the peak, in about the last mile. But it’s very sloppy, slippery snow. The kind that coats your micro spikes, making them useless unless you clear them every ten steps. That combined with the steep incline, it was a bit arduous going up with numerous steps sliding back down and then the descent was excruciatingly slow with many slips. Hiking poles weren’t perfectly helpful either as they often plunged down into the snow on both sides of the narrow foot wide path of compact snow from previous hikers. One step to either side meant postholing at varying depths. But if you’re looking for solitude, this is where you’ll get it. I lost track of how many hikers I encountered to/from the balcony and each view ledge prior had a hiker or two taking selfies. I only encountered one hiker today past the balcony.

Sights: Starting at the trailhead, the usual flowers of trillium, evergreen violets, bleeding heart, salmonberries, flowering currant, and spring beauties were seen in addition to some red baby paintbrush flowers. Caught a photo of a California tortoiseshell butterfly below the balcony. And heard but did not see the grouse mentioned in previous trip reports. Mt Rainier had a layer of fluffy clouds above it today and the unfrozen Lower Granite Lake had a London topaz blue color.

Facilities: Trailhead trash and recycling receptacles were available and vault toilet was stocked with TP and hand sanitizer.

Gaia stats: 9.1 miles round trip, Ascent 3,350  2hr 49 min up, 2hr 17min down (including stop at the Balcony).

A very nice NorthBend I 90 hike! Just what I was looking for to spend my Friday morning. A good one to put some music in and cruise to the top. 

Trail is well marked and easy to follow. I was at the balcony junction in an hour and continued up. A little stream to hop over but nothing serious. Snow started at 4000’ (so about final 600’). Everything was compact or even a little icy that microspikes make getting up a breeze. Forecast called for fog and got hit with some wet snow a little past the balcony. Most of summit was socked in with fog but managed to get a little view of Mailbox peak? and the corridor. Not the most spectacular views ever but the trail itself was very enjoyable.

Heard a strange “whooping” noise I the forest a little above the snow line. Turns out it was a grouse! I think a previous report showed a photo.

Trailhead: I showed up around 3 pm on Friday evening after work. The parking area on the left side of the road was full, but there were plenty of spots across the road. The bathroom was open and stocked with tp. 

Trail: Trail is in great condition and well used to the balcony. Pretty uneventful. A few people out rock climbing and the views on a clear day are always great. The trail to that point is uphill but not that steep. After the junction with the trail to the balcony and the ira spring connector is when the trail begins to really get steep. On the way up to the creek, I was startled by some noise in the trees right next to the trail, and on further inspection I saw what I think was a Spruce Grouse. It was trying to keep its distance but it was pretty cool to see. Museum creek was easy enough to cross. Snow starts on the trail at around 3300 ft elevation and becomes consistent around 3450. I pressed on trying to at least make it up to the viewpoint below the summit, but as I got higher the snow got deeper, and softer, and more unstable. I hit my limit at around 4200 ft, when the snow was about 3 ft deep, very soft, and I was post holing and slipping a lot. I came back down the trail and stopped at the west facing viewpoint with a bench at 2740 to have dinner and watch the sunset. I made my way back down after sunset with my head lamp and made it back to the trailhead around 8 pm. 

I had the trip around 8 miles and 3000 ft elevation gain. I will try in a few weeks to see if I can make the summit then once the snow melts a little bit more. 

Our group of five hikers visited Dirty Harry's Peak on a beautiful end-of-winter day. There was an inch or so of fresh snow on the trees all the way down to the trailhead, and much more up top - super pretty. On our return, the snow was melting off the trees fast in the warm afternoon sun - snow bombs aplenty.

TRAILHEAD AND PEOPLE: No issues on the road, and the bathroom is open. We only saw three other parties on the mountain all day, all solo hikers.

DIRTY HARRY'S BALCONY: We didn't visit the "proper" balcony, but stopped at two or three of the lower viewpoints, which in my opinion have just as nice of a view, and a safer place to stand in winter conditions. There is still some snow on the trail in the trees, which might get icy if it freezes. We did fine with just poles, but I'd recommend carrying spikes just in case. With the melting snow, the trail is muddy in quite a few places, so waterproof footwear is very helpful.

DIRTY HARRY'S PEAK: This was our main objective for the day, and it did not disappoint! We used just our boots up to Dirty Harry's Living Room, where we put on snowshoes for the rest of the way up. We had lunch in the sun at the excellent southwest-facing viewpoint at the west end of the summit area. It took a bit of effort to get through the 2'+ of untracked snow over to this viewpoint - worth it. As always, stay well back from the north edge of the summit, there is a big cliff that drops down at least 150', or more like 600' on the eastern side.

On our way back, we wore our snowshoes all the way down to Museum Creek, which worked well. Waterproof boots make the creek crossing easy, poles also very helpful.

SNOW: The snow was perfect for snowshoeing. Soft enough that we could lay in a nice track without ridiculous amounts of effort. I would say there was maybe 6" of snow around Museum Creek, about 1' at the living room, and probably 5-6' at the summit. The track we laid in may work OK without snowshoes now, but probably not on a warm day.

The south-facing talus slopes above the DHP / Web Mountain junction are NOT an avalanche concern right now. The rocks are only about half covered, so there is not enough snow to slide. From a distance, we could see there is much better coverage on the north-facing talus slopes of Web Mountain, which are also a bit higher.