Two patrollers squelched up the muddy trail early this morning. But the stars and moon were out - did we make the Friday weather window' First time on this very steep trail which reminded us of the steep, forested Eldorado Creek trail. Encountered snow, finally wanting snowshoes near the crest of the long slope from the ground. Still, deep snow made the trudge to the boulderfield difficult, but then a frozen crust made life easier getting to the summit. We chanted from Green Eggs and Ham, knocking a foot-wide sheet of rime ice off the mailbox to get in. Even blades of grass were plastered with thick carapaces of ice - must have been ugly up here! Crisp, clear air, with views to Rainier and Baker. Even the Haystack was plastered in white. Good snow brought us down in 1.5 hours, no other souls.

Four of us attempted to climb Mailbox Peak on a foggy, wet Oct day following the alternate trail that passes above the Fire Training Center. We met at the parking lot 200 feet east of the Lutheran camp on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road and hiked a half mile up the gated logging road to the trailhead which is about 200 feet beyond the margin of the most recent logging to the north. Fortunately the trail is protected from further logging because it falls within the riparian zone of a nearby environmentally protected stream. The alternate trail begins one switchback above handhold-tree (a log to which someone has generously applied wooden dowels). This rudimentary trail follows above the ravine towards the Fire Training Center where it then switchbacks upward to meet the main trail at about 2400 ft. The alternate trail crosses the main Mailbox trail and continues horizontally for a few hundred feet before climbing up the west ridge (the trail on this side can also be accessed at about 2200 feet from the main Mailbox trail). Following the main trail leads southeasterly to NASTY ROOTS AND MUD which typically leads to FALLING DOWN --especially on wet days -- this difficulty is avoided by following the alternate trail. The alternate trail above 2500 generally follows along the west ridge joining the long-suffering main trail at about 3700 ft. At 3800 feet a single main trail leaves the forest and enters open slopes with views up and down the South Fork Snoqualmie valley and views to the south and on this day, only occasional glimpses of the Fire Training center 2500 feet below. Patches of snow were seen at 4000 feet just below the boulder field. The trail leads to the left of the boulder field, dropping about 10 feet and then climbing to the left through a small grove of evergreen trees to the top of the boulder field where it exits to the final open slope which leads to the summit. We paused at the upper edge of the small grove of trees to put on additional protective clothing before plunging into ever increasing bad weather. I struggled several minutes trying to put on too small modular OR gloves and was becoming cold. As we exited the forest grove we realized we were entering a howling gale of driving ice pellets. Wow, the real stuff. Doug and Lynn were well up the slope when my wife and I started up. Halfway up the slope I realized I was getting cold fast and yelled to my wife we had to turn around. I had unwisely put my raincoat over my pack and the wind had blown it over my head giving me no protection whatsoever. She begrudgingly returned with me to the shelter of the forest to wait for Doug and Lynn to rejoin us. Shortly after they appeared. They had summited which in these conditions was an accomplishment on this otherwise benign hike. Lynn said she touched the mailbox and had actually paused for a moment before plunging down to the protection of the trees. She said there was about 2 inches of ice and snow on top. We returned via the the west ridge route but instead of taking the crossover connector to the southwest face trail we continued down the west ridge to the main trail. We returned like conquering heroes to friends who were waiting in their cars to see if we had actually achieved our “climb”. This was a challenging. invigorating hike – not up to the Steve Fox level but all and all great fun.

uggh - mailbox is never easy,as someone said earlier in a report - it is 4100 vertical feet in 3.5 miles. Met up with ""To The Top"" and his friend Jerry and got out of the cars at the trailhead to find lots of water falling from the sky. It really never changed much after that as it was wet the whole time, until we headed out of the trees and then it was just real cloudy with low visibility. Signed the Dr Seuss book and then retreated down the root soaked trail. Be careful when their wet, or else you'll hurt your tailbone. This was my first descent that I did not slip. All in all a good day. No snow though, kinda bummed about that - scott@nwog.org >2001101900|FRANKLIN FALLS|1036|a|mcaver|72 Franklin Falls #1036 - The Alpine Lakes
Silly me, went out in the rain in blue jeans and spent half the day in wet clothes. It was raining pretty steadily when I made this quick stop on my way to the Teanaway area. I hiked the quarter mile to the falls, slushing through mud and water, with a camera bag and tripod. I should have left them in the car, though. The rain and wind were too persistent to even bother. The fall is very impressive. I had no idea how close it is to I-90. I bet 99% of the people driving overhead don't know the fall is there, myself included until today. There was a WTA work crew hammering rocks in the rain near the falls. Thanks for the work, guys!

It was a bright sun shiny day so I decided to check out Mailbox Peak. If you like your trail steep, then this one is for you. Once you leave the DNR road this trail is only flat for about the first 200 yards as it goes along a small creek. After that is gets with the program of getting to the summit in the shortest distance possible, like a climbers path or an old miners trail. No nice long switch backs, so be prepared, as your legs will let you know what kind of shape your are in. It seems to take forever to get up through the trees (at least there is a lot of shade on those sunny days) when you finally break out into the brushy area with lots of blue berries. Then up some more through more trees to get around a large boulder field area. Finally the summit ridge comes into view, but you can't see the top yet. Up the ridge until you can spot the mailbox and you now know it isn't to much farther. It seems a lot longer then the 3 miles up listed in the guide book. There is 4,106' gain on this hike and you feel it all. Only six hikers made the top today. Nices views all around. Rainier to Glacier Peak. The mail box was full with two summit register books, some letters that never got picked up by the U.S. Postal Service, an 8-Ball and some misc. stuff. The flag on the side of the mailbox is a rubber chicken. Treking poles are handy for this trip.

Mail box peak seems to be getting steeper. I am not sure how this happens but it seems there is some strange geologic process at work here. Once you break out of the trees there are some serious bluberries that will slow all but the most focused down. The mailbox is getting rather full of junk and I will probably take a sack and clean out a lot of it the next time up there. I have no idea what the purpose of the sterile gloves is. Also some vandal has broken off the red mail flag. Otherwise the box is in good shape.