New Year's backpack on Jolly Mountain from 12.31.2025 - 1.1.2026 via Salmon La Sac Sno-Park.

ROAD: The road to the snopark was drivable by a regular car, although there might be some snow and ice present on the road. There was compact snow and ice on the short spur road and in the large parking area. Snopark pass required for parking.

TRAIL: We began our walk up the road from the snopark, which was firm enough from snowmobile traffic to be bootable. We left the road (in snowshoes) at the 2,840' switchback and pretty much made our way uphill in the most direct way possible, criss-crossing the road a few times but eventually picking the road up again at around 5,000' elevation.

The snow was deep, fluffy and unconsolidated, which made for some exhausting trail-breaking - there were some ski tracks that we followed at times, but it was a lot of work in snowshoes as there was no real existing bootpath.

Once back on the road at 5,000' it was easier-going as there were packed snowmobile tracks to walk on. At the road's end (where the Sasse Mt. Trail picks up), a group of snowmobilers passed us, got stuck, revved their engine and promptly proceeded to fling a massive fountain of snow our way, which rained heavily down on us and completely doused us head to toe. Said rider seemed oblivious and unapologetic as to what he had done, so I'd say watch out for clueless snowmobilers if you're hiking up here. 😆

We continued along the ridge, following snowmobile tracks when we could, and breaking trail at other times. The snow was actually more consolidated up here than it had been lower, so we made better progress.

We ended up setting up camp on top of a point just over 6,000' and less than a mile from the summit of Jolly Mountain. The day had been beautiful, sunny and calm, and we enjoyed a nice sunset over the surrounding peaks with a view of Rainier and Stuart.

The (not-forecasted) winds started picking up at around 8.30 pm, and by 10pm it was gusting so hard I got up to re-guy out all the tents as mine was caving in on me. Thankfully we made it through the night, and it did calm down after a few hours.

We left our camp at around 6.45 a.m. and broke trail to the top of Jolly for our first summit sunrise of 2026 (under a mile and about 500' vertical from camp). It was pretty cloudy, but it was still nice to get to the top of a mountain for the start of the New Year!

Back at camp, we packed up hastily as the winds were picking up again. The way down went a lot faster, and snow moved in as we descended (also earlier than had initially been forecasted).

There was more snow on the road as we left, and there were quite a few cars spun out on I-90 as we headed home, but we made it back safely for a good start to 2026.

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This was my plan B after my friends bailed on doing Colchuck Peak due to weather concerns. The road to the trailhead is in decent shape, but keep in mind that it’s pretty narrow. I drove up to around 4,600 ft, where snow patches made driving further impossible. From reading previous trip reports, it seems that this is the spot many people choose to park in the summertime due to the road becoming rougher beyond that point.

I walked approximately 1.2 miles to the actual trailhead. Besides the patchy snow, I encountered a couple of blowdowns. Nothing extraordinary to report up to peak 6,086—easy-going route with some snow here and there. The saddle between 6,086 and Jolly is fully snow-covered, but flotation wasn’t necessary.

Descending the slope from 6,086 to Skookum required using an ice axe and spikes, as the steep slope was snow-covered. That was the only part of the trip that required gear. After downclimbing the slope, I stayed on top of the snow-free ridge and hiked up to Skookum, which is a simple walk-up.

I followed the ridge to the Louvre, hitting intermittent, easy-to-navigate snow. To reach the true summit from the false summit, a bit of slightly exposed scrambling is required. I’d say it’s a couple of easy Class 3 moves, with one move being high Class 3 due to a patch of snow. I’m generally not the most “courageous” in exposed terrain, and this didn’t seem too bad to me.

I backtracked my route until the steep slope before point 6,086, where I stuck to the ridgeline and scrambled up through a melted rocky line instead of putting my spikes back. From peak 6,086, I cruised to Jolly. The snow was still pretty firm and easy to travel across, with minimal post-holing.

I considered doing Humerus Hill, but I didn’t want to get home too late, so I headed back. Instead of walking down the forest road from the summer trailhead, I decided to beeline to my car down the slope, which saved me a bunch of time.

You can find my track on peakbagger. Started around 7:20 and finished at 13:40. ~11.5 miles RT with ~4200ft gain. I only saw one person on my way back close to the TH.

I went up Jolly, Skookum and the Louvre. I started from the upper trailhead. The directions on WTA dont get you there, but the directions on Alltrails do. The hike started at 5400 feet, and my Subaru Imprezza made it up no problem. My guess is I could have made it in even a Prius. There was no snow except toward the top of Jolly, but you can stick to the left and avoid almost all snow. My guess is it will be gone within a week. No need for any sort of spikes.

There was no streams or water source on my trail.

Decided to do Jolly Mountain today as I read a TR that the gate was open, otherwise I would need to start the hike from Cayuse Horse Camp which would be an additional 5 mi RT and at least 2,000ft extra of elevation gain.

I started late at around 11 AM and saw only 2 cars on the side of FR 4315 at around 4,500 ft. There was intermittent snow on the road after this elevation.

I put on gaiters at around 5,000 ft as I started postholing. For some reason, I followed a random bootpath that led me to the edge of the road with some loose rocks. It was a bit sketchy.

The road walk was around 1.3 mi until I saw the trail marker #1340. Snow was still intermittent until I was at around 600ft below the summit. I brought poles, ice axe, spikes and helmet but only used poles. Snow was perfect for kicking steps on the way up and plunge stepping on the way down. There was also a great bootpath that was easy to follow all the way to the summit. 

Met only 2 group of hikers. Two guys attempted to do Skookum but they said they needed crampons and ice axes, and then two women who summitted Jolly earlier. Would love to do Skookum and the Louvre too in one day but I didn't have time and wasn't comfortable doing it solo.

Weather was perfect and the view over the Stuart range was incredible! There were also lots of Avalanche Lily and Spring Beauty (I think) blooming along the trail. Overall, the hike was Jolly good!

Stats: 8.3mi RT, 5:30, leisure pace with lots of photo stops.

I had a few afternoon hours free so I drove up from Roslyn Sunday afternoon about 15 miles to the giant Snopark area just before Salmon la Sac (on the right)  and snowshoed up the Jolly Mt Road for 48 minutes to the first great viewpoint you get on the Jolly Mt Rd This was a 700 foot elevation gain in a mile and a half or so. This road is a “voluntary” machine-free area. Apparently, there weren’t many volunteers volunteering to respect the concept, as there were lots of snowmobile tracks all over the road. This made the tread uneven, but still much easier than breaking trail through the 8 inches of new powder. I usually avoid this area on weekends, but decided, with limited time, to do it. The views from this spot are awesome to the west and north and include the mountains Red, Lemah, Chimney, Cone, Daniel, Davis, and more. There were a few clouds covering the view through the Cooper Gap to Lemah, but all the others were out and a big relief to see after over a month of consistent gray fog and clouds around home. I saw no others except two snowmobiles descending super fast (unusual, normally they slow down and we exchange greetings) as I was slogging up the road. There were lots of snowmobile rigs and trailers up and down the road at the standard parking places and even the winter aroma of spent gas lingering here and there in the brisk winter air. Surprisingly, I did not hear them often.

I would like to mention that I often see snowmobilers in my winter wanderings and generally find them to be pleasant to talk to and respectful of me, an old septuagenarian mountain wanderer, just doing my thing. I enjoy the meetings and know they are just out there like me, having fun outside.