What are friends for, anyway? Show no mercy! Too bad, driver, that you've been gone two weeks. Get your sorry a$$ moving and up that trail! Well, so the plan was to assault(!) Jolly. The cast of characters included Middle E and Opus - who met the driver and Gus at the 65th P&R at 7:00 a.m.; and Trail Pair. We ended up right behind them just outside of lovely Ronald, Wa. Note: the road is clear all the way to the Sno Park parking area - but it ends there! But wait, there was Two Dog Dad and the lab-a-doodles waiting for us at the trailhead! What a surprise. Then, pulling up right behind us were a couple more Hikers who were heading to Jolly, too. Jack's Mom and Shadow, with (duh) Jack! Gus had a new buddy! They had a great time -for a while. Knowing that Jim K was still nursing a bum knee (from these same ""friends"" who showed no sympathy for him on Iron Peak last weekend!) - we were fearful this would be (perhaps) a ""pointless"" trip! But, fortunately, Jack's Mom (Chris) stepped right up and became an unofficial ""pointer"" to start the trip. Of course, no trip is complete with this group without a few map and GPS checks. Undaunted, up we started, just a little before 9:00 a.m. It was a beautiful morning, and quite mild (about 45 degrees). We decided to stay on the road for a while - until the second switchback - before heading up through some trees to cut off a lot of the road and shorten the distance. We intersected the road . . . and, you guessed it time to check the maps again and get a few ""pointers."" We reached an interesting, broad, flat area that could be either a meadow or a swampy area when the snow melts. We crossed this and headed back into the trees to continue or cut-off of the road and the switchbacks. At a fork in the road - one branch heading straight and one heading up, we chose the upper route and soon cut up-slope to head toward the ridge. Here's where we decided to put on snowshoes, because progress was getting tough. This was a steep climb and we would cross the road a couple of times. When we reached one of the crossings of the road, we stopped for a quick snack . . . but, unfortunately, at this point, Jack and Boonie had a bit of a discussion about ""manliness"" - and Jack took exception to Boonie's advances. Well, a pretty intense dog-fight ensued. It was at this point that we split routes with Chris, Scott and Jack and our motley crew continued our trek straight up, while Jack's Mom (Chris), Shadow (Scott) and Jack stayed on the road. The steep route up finally brought us to a ridge line - probably the summer trail between Jolly and Sasse. We headed north to a point where we hit the Jolly summer trail and the ridge that heads east. Some great views from here. The ridge was easy enough to follow to a point where you drop down a little on the south side of the ridge and then head north and east to another ridge. We stopped for lunch just before we had to drop a couple hundred feet from the ridge to reach another ridge that would take us up to the summit of Jolly - which still looked quite a ways away! It was about here that I began to think that a summit was not in my future today . . . my legs were like rubber. Although the snow had been pretty good - a little sloppy lower down, but not too bad above 5000', I was whooped and whining was becoming a viable option. We headed down the slope a little and reached another junction where we headed south towards Jolly and the final 500' of climb. The views were glorious - We all reached the summit and Bob asked me, ""Did you bring the wine?"" Oh yes, I had a fine whine all worked up and ready to go! A vintage year. But, alas, I had to admit that this was a pretty cool vantage point and probably should just keep my whines to myself. We figure it took us just a little more than 5 hours to get to the summit - in all, we would travel close to 15 miles today and climb about 4500'. We stayed on top (with no wind and it was warming up considerably) for about 40 minutes before heading down. About a mile down from the summit, we ran into two skiers - they had started out about 20 minutes before we did in the morning, but took a different route up - they were headed to Jolly. Their descent would be a bit quicker than ours, but it only took us about 3 hours to get back to the cars. A fabulous day to be out - and a good 50 degrees cooler than where I was the same time last week!!! Ok, ok, so they kicked my butt up to the summit, even poor Gus was exhausted - - - it was all he could do to eat his dinner and then stumble up to bed (lol). But it was a great day with good friends. A good work-out; no real hazards, but be prepared to burn a few calories!!

I see there is another report for Jolly Mtn on this same day but wanted to add a few comments and share a couple pictures. The trail is open to motorcycles, and although I only saw 2 other hikers and their 4 legged companion, I did see 8 riders but not in any groups larger than 3. Because the trail is accessible to motorcyles, the 6 mile and 4000 ft elevation gain is fairly even throughout the hike with no major obstacles. Some accounts of the trail say the the crossing of Salmon la Sac Cr. at 3.5 miles can be hazardous but right now is just a small trickle and the only water on the entire route. There has been some trail work done and about 1 mile from the trailhead someone has managed to work their way down from one of the old logging roads with a small backhoe, widening the trail along the way for about 1/2 a mile. With the new trail work and a little help from the motorcycles the trail can be very dusty but the soft dirt makes for a little extra cushion on the descent. All the trail junctions are very clearly signed and leave no question as to which way you need to go. In the last mile there are a couple more sections where some more trail work has been done, adding some switchbacks to lessen the grade a little and bypass some of the more heavily eroded sections. Great views from the top as far east as Ellensburg, north to the Stuart Range and Mt Daniel, west to Cooper and Waptus Lake, and south to Rainier.

Wow, great job on the trail maintenance! Someone is working hard to clear brush and smooth out the trail. It is really nice now. The trail was in great shape and very clearly signed, the fall colors were beautiful and there were no other hikers on the trail. This is one of Salmon la Sac's best kept secrets.

Well, all my playmates seemed to be busy. Trail Pair was doing an overnighter for the weekend - but I was confined to Seattle on Saturday and only had Sunday to play; Joe hurt his back; Two Dog Dad (Nikolai) is in Victoria; White Dog (Joanna) was off doing the John Muir Trail; and Jim K had a previous commitment; - so, it was Banjo (BIG BOY) and me. Joanna left him with me while she was in CA, and he desperately needed to get out - his only exercise this week consisted of early morning runs around the top of Queen Anne - it was time to hit the trail. I picked Jolly as a - well, jolly - little hike to take. Last year, I took Sadie and Clover to Yellow Hill/Elbow Peak and I considered hiking on to Jolly - but the weather was threatening, so, we turned back. So, it was on my list - this time, we approached from the Salmon la Sac side. I chose the longer route, starting at the Cayuse (horse) Campground. You can start up higher on FS 4315 (you turn about a 1/2 mile before the Campground start) - that's for wooses! Note, if you are starting at the horse camp, be sure and park right off the road before you enter the camp - passenger cars can't park in the horse camp. The trail itself starts at the far end of the camp area - near the corral at least, that's where the Alpine Lakes book (Spring/Manning) suggests you start and there is a trail there - but it appears that the Forest Service wants you to start from the service road - you'll see it. Regardless, there's no real trailhead marker - we first headed towards the Waptus Lake trailhead where there is a trailmarker, but saw the sign pointing back towards the corral. We chose the old start - and you actually cross a creek - good place for the 4-paw creatures to grab some water, and, as the book says, in about 1/4 mile you hit the service road - this is where the trail is actually marked. Nothing much to report here. You start off through some second growth and, within the first mile, you break out into a clear cut area. We got a relatively early start, 9:00 a.m., so it was cool enough and the sun hadn't crested over the ridge - so, the ascent was in the shade mostly - but coming down in the afternoon, it was pretty darned toasty! There aren't many flowers below 5000' but I did notice some soon-to-be ripe wild blackberries and after reading Zachster's report from the Snoqualmie trip yesterday, I thought Nancy was teasing and taunting me by saying they found RIPE huckleberries. No way, I thought. But, WAY, the huckleberries were ripening nicely on this southwest slope trail - and they were not tart at all! I'm sure the hikers and bears will be wrestling for them! I picked Jolly because (a) it was on the east side of the mountains and the weather was predicted to be crappy on the west side; and (b) I'd never been there. Well, the clouds literally stopped at Roslyn and the skies were lovely all day - with enough of a breeze that the bugs were non-existent. NICE! Once you leave the second growth, you are out in the open - with the exception of the lousy slide alder (Slide Alder Slayer, where are you when I need you??). The trail is well signed - the only places that may be confusing are the two other spots where you cross dirt roads. After crossing the service road right at the start, there are two more crossings. The next one is easy enough - you literally walk across the road and pick up the trail; this is about at mile 2; you continue up to the next road crossing. This one could be confusing - when you reach the road, you go right a short distance to hit the trail again - it's marked, (as is the trail you just left), so it would be hard to miss. Here, you hit the trees again and are traveling up through a creek draw - you will be on the northside of the creek and at about 4000' you will see the creek and at about 4100' you actually cross the creek - a good place for another drink if you've got a 4-legged buddy. Now the fun begins, the previous 3 miles were relatively mild - you're going up, but it's not steep. Well, get over that - it starts getting steep (4000' gain in 6 miles isn't bad - but it just depends HOW you gain that elevation!!). You are in the trees and come across some other trail options, but continue up - at 5000' there's another creek crossing - don't know if it stays running through the summer - but it was most welcome From here, it's about another 3/4 mile to the ridge - it's steep!!! Finally, we reached the ridge. The views open up here, too. We came across the junction with the West Teanaway trail (to Yellow Hill). But the ridge walk was delightful. You may get confused because the trail heads north - when you think you should be going east (the way the West Teanaway trail heads) - don't do it!! You will swing north and then east/southeast to reach Jolly. You cross a definite avalanche chute that's pretty impressive from the ridge and from the summit. At one point, you are at kind of a saddle - where the trail intersects the Jolly Creek trail. It was here that I saw my first evidence of another human - but I never saw the human!! Some interesting views from this spot. But, we were on a mission to head to the summit. The trail starts up from the ridge and gains elevation quickly, but the old trail is steep and badly eroded. Some ambitious souls have started building a new trail with a much more gentle grade and long, traversing switchbacks to by-pass the erosion areas (thank you!). You are in the trees here, but when you move out of the trees, the summit of Jolly can be seen. We were quickly on the summit and begin exploring - first, we traveled south from the summit - I wanted to see if this was another route towards Yellow Hill - and, indeed, it is. We could look back towards the summit from here. Although the flowers weren't plentiful (begin to appear about 5000' - lupine, columbine, asters, etc.) there were some worth capturing, along with some lovely butterflies. Meanwhile, we took a break on the summit for some exploring soaking in the views of the wonderful Teanaways. I noticed that Mt. Daniel was totally enshrouded by clouds - so I knew where Trail Pair went this weekend - the TP curse is still alive!! So, we relaxed and had a little lunch. I had a brilliant idea that we should head to Skookum Peak (Point 6394) as described by Peggy Goldman in 75 Scrambles. The route was quite obvious from Jolly - looked like a snap!! So, down we headed - made the turn at the saddle and headed towards Jolly Creek and started - DOWN! Dang, we kept going down. Finally, when we reached the Jolly Creek-Skookum junction, I said, ""Forget it!"" I didn't need a 5000'/15 mile day! Good decision, because Banjo barely made it back to the car. It had warmed up considerably and he was pooped. On the way back, we came across this interesting trail marker - - - my question, is ""Why?"" Right around the Paris (not Hilton) Creek junction, I ran into three people hiking up towards Jolly. We had a nice chat and I assured them that the trail was well-signed and they shouldn't have much trouble. We made excellent time - 2 1/2 hours up and closer to 2 hours down. We got back to Seattle (got to hear the Mariners win!) by about 4:30 p.m. Stats: 12+ miles (including the canceled trip to Skookum); 4400' gain; Total time: 5.5 hours car-to-car. Fortunately, it wasn't too warm today, but that 75 degrees on the way back was plenty warm - thank goodness for the breeze.

A long, but very doable winter climb. Follow Rd 4315 from the Sno-Park (6.5 mi). The Salmon la Sac Creek and Paris Creek trails are very hard to follow. The road takes you up to a ridge, which you follow to the base of the summit. Although long, the road is gradual and can be skied without skins. There is a long avalanche field, which is unstable with new snow, partway along the road. The summit was crusty, but not too icy for snowshoes or skis. See our photos at http://www.nwhikephotos.blogspot.com/. Great views!