Trail 1307 to Jolly Mountain, though preposterous, is ultimately a gift of solitude and a panoramic jolt. My Spring & Manning guide suggests a straightforward approach to the Cayuse Camp trailhead (“left of the corral”), but it’s not so. After parking by a troika of blue recycling bins, you have to go right at the horse pen, just past the camp host’s RV site. Look for a sign reading “pedestrian use only,” cross the footbridge, and proceed southeast on a primitive road for about 200 yards. Eventually you’ll reach the signed trailhead at an intersection. Ignoring Jolly Mountain Spur (a disused logging road), climb the forested path from here. There are reasons why, even in 2015, some routes remain obscure. During our nine hours on Jolly, the Rhine Maiden and I saw no one but each other. Our aloneness itself felt naked. True, we were visiting the high country on a weekday, but at a mountain bordering Alpine Lakes W.A., our luck seemed über-Irish. I feel no qualms about sharing this news because the first third of this trail is a dog. Sensible hikers might turn around. In less than a mile it enters a vast cut-over hillside, up which you climb very steeply and warmly, with buckbrush slapping your face and loose rock rolling underfoot. It’s here you also reap the benefits of past motorcycle traffic—ankle-bending berms and troughs up to 18” below grade. Salmon La Sac’s famous bug brigades held off for us, but best to be prepared for those, too. So why bother with Jolly, you ask? Good things come to those who wait. The middle third of the Jolly journey is a mercy, a tender sleeve of green though unspoiled forest. It’s here we broke for tea and sandwiches on a bank of vanilla leaf, in dappled shade. A thrush fluted its painfully beautiful tune, and mid-morning dewdrops clung to ferns. The Rhine Maiden relaxed, forgiving me for the strain of the previous hour and a half. (She hates to be disappointed; I hate to disappoint her.) She dipped her toes in the purling creek. She arched her neck to see the tree-couple embracing, a youngish cedar and an older fir grown together at streamside. Here was Tolkienland. No, here was the formless void beneath the world of form. Here you could remember your original face, or fall in love. In a place like this, mean Uncle Time gets distracted for a while. Go ahead and fill your lungs. Breathing all the way is your birthright. Remember? (And by the way, pump water here. A higher stream doubtless dries up by July.) The trail’s final miles will rock you in a cradle of reverie: Chickamin, Thompson, Daniel, Glacier, and Stewart flash horizons rubbed clean of pre-digested sentiment, clear as crystal snowfields, unclouded whatever the weather. (Ranier wallops the southwesterly view.) You can walk half-timbered ridges, ponder the scattered blow-downs of some titanic storm (oh, how the mighty have fallen!), shelter from wind at last on a summit budded with cushion phlox, and give the sky your undistracted gaze. Notice, if you arrive soon after snow-melt, the look of the newly-exposed soil. Like an infant minutes from the womb, it’s hairy, shocked, a little battered. You’ve just witnessed a miracle. There is more on this mountain than what you came for. Leave it your blessings.

Spectacular day climbing from the flowery woods to the snowy peaks. We parked at the picnic area just to the south of the road turn off for the Salmon La Sac campground, then found the trail which leaves from the Cayuse horse camp for Jolly. The first part was in open woods and sunny hillsides, with lots of flowers and views. Then, not long after the creek crossing 3.5 miles in, we found ourselves in snow country. Well intermittent snow country, as we would posthole, put on snowshoes, then encounter bare ground, take off snowshoes, repeat. Finally we reached Sasse Ridge which has sublime views of all the Alpine Lakes peaks, and volcanoes Glacier, Rainier and Adams. After a glorious 2 mile sunny-snowy ridge walk/snowshoe, we reached the summit, where we were entertained by orgies of ladybugs. Found 1 tick, before it burrowed in. No one else on the trail today. Saw some old footprints in the snow.

Had a great hike up with a couple of buddies from church -- it was raining pretty hard and we mostly saw mist and fog, but well worth a return trip. I'd advise hiking poles for coming down, as it has a few steep spots. Also, you can definitely park in the horse camp -- there's a parking lost just for hikers.

Forest Road 4330 leading to this trail is in really rough shape. There are tons of potholes, making for an extremely bumpy ride. We had originally been headed for Cathedral Rock, but an additional 11 miles driving along this "road" didn't seem worth it. Instead we stopped at the trailhead for Paris Creek and decided to give it a go. This trail was in pretty rough shape, it was frequently overgrown and most of the signage along the way was broken. It has a pretty steady climb up and switchbacks regularly. The trail wasn't often dusty and only occasionally rocky. The river crossings, that can be difficult earlier in the year definitely weren't a problem for us, seeing as they were all dried up. The trail leads to a forest road, that you travel on for a short time before turning off and back onto the trail. It's poorly signed and pretty overgrown so watch carefully. We reached the turnaround point after about 3 miles, which was a depressing trail junction. With no real climax to the hike, as yet, we decided to continue on along the Jolly Mountain spur trail in the hopes of seeing something spectacular! After about 1/2 a mile the trail is blocked by several blowdowns, we continued over and onwards and were rewarded with a beautiful meadow and pretty good views of the surrounding mountain ranges after only a half mile more. We decided to turn around here and go back the way we had come. There were tons of ripe berries along the trail that were a definite bonus! Overall this trail, is kind of a dud. I would recommend using it as a section of a longer multi-day hike and seeing some of the views possible from the surrounding peaks. Had we had more time we would've liked to explore a little more. For a full description of our day hike and more photos visit our blog http://bobbyandmaura.com/hikes/paris-creek

Jolly Mountain is a gem! Hard to get to, and hard to get back. But the trail passes mostly through cool forest -- a relief on this hot day -- until it breaks out on a high ridge with views in all directions. And then at the 6,400-foot summit it gets even better with the breathtaking Mt. Stuart range, Daniel, Hinman and south to Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. The trail is open to horses and motorcycles but we saw neither on this steep, rugged trail. The lower portion appears to utilize rocky old streambeds that were tough on the feet coming down. The trail starts at the Cayuse horse camp on Salmon La Sac road. Park near the horse corrals to the left; the trail begins just past the camp host's trailer. There are several well-marked intersections with other trails that lead down to Salmon La Sac and over to the Teanaway to the east. Last good water was at 4,200 feet but there was a little stream on a meadow below the summit ridge. Bugs were plentiful so bring the repellent of your choice.