This was a nice stop on the way back to Seattle from the Hurricane Ridge area. We originally wanted to do Mount Ellinor, but the cloud cover over the mountains convinced us to try this lower-elevation hike instead. It's a short but steep trek up to the summit, and the views at the top are worth the effort.

We hiked up the trail and walked back down on the road to save our knees. I'd recommend this strategy and would do it this way again. The trail is basically a series of switchbacks zig-zagging directly up the hill. It's shaded and well-maintained, but there's not much of a view until close to the top. In contrast, the road passes by a couple of nice viewpoints. However, you have to contend with the longer distance (3.9 miles on the road vs. 2 miles on the trail) and watch for cars passing by.

Upon reaching the summit via the trail, you arrive at the north lookout, which offers views of the Olympic Range and lowlands below. Due to the clouds, we couldn't see much of the mountains. At the south lookout, we got a sweet view over Hood Canal, though the promised view to Mt. Rainier was clouded over. Better luck next time!

Steep hike.  Lots of bugs.  But we’ll worth the hike.  Hardly anyone on the trail on a weekday.   Nice views from the top with some haze from wildfires.   
you can see from downtown Bellevue to almost Portland from the south rim.   Amazing 

A cardio workout for sure! Switchbacks all the way up and going back down there were several times we slicked out in the loose rock, which is always a scary thing, only one other couple on the trail as everyone else drove up. Awesome hike with awesome views!

We got to the lower trailhead a little before 9:30 AM Saturday and the parking was pretty full but still found parking spots. (We somehow didn't realize you can drive to the lookout viewpoint, but either way we were looking to do a hike, but if you wanted to drive up, we saw a Mini Cooper at the top, so road seems to be suitable for all cars). 

The trail still had wild rhododendrons along the trail and it wasn't muddy besides one small patch near the top of the hike. Weather was great Saturday and you could see the snow capped mountains on the left, and the water on the right. Never felt that the trail was too crowded, but lots of people hiking this trail Saturday!  

Mt. Walker in early June - rhododendron-lover's paradise.  The Pacific Rhododedrons at all elevations are at peak right now.  This past weekend it was not too busy - I found a parking spot at the trailhead at 09:30 on a Saturday in early June.  Though, the clouds/rain may have put some people off.

The trail is most definitely STEEP.  Even though it's second growth forest, it's still rather pretty.  Some of the trees are getting big.  I even saw a few (young) Western White Pine near the top.  I don't know of another trail where I've seen native Rhodies right next to Western White Pine.

Near the top, I saw a big sooty grouse who was walking the trail about 40 yards in front of me.  He/she (didn't get close enough to tell) kept walking up the trail, every so often turning his head to see where I was.  Soon enough, the big bird fluttered off into the forest - a kind of clumsy flight.  After the grouse, I nearly stepped on a banana slug ever-so-slowly trying to make its way across the trail.  So, I gently got it off the trail and back into the forest.  Various other birdsong all up and down the trail.  They were great companions.  On the way down, I saw 4 crow-sized very curious birds that reminded me of gray jays - but I didn't think gray jays got that big.  I need to research what kind of birds these might have been.

Little/no views from the top.  The north viewpoint was completely cloudy.  The southern view had some breaks in the clouds so I could see the water and surrounding forests, but certainly not Mt. Rainier nor the Seattle skyline.

After lunch, I headed back down the trail and am very thankful I had my sticks as it seems steeper going down! 

People I encountered on the trail were friendly and courteous (yielding to me going uphill, for example).  Though, there weren't too many people.  And, there were quite a few dogs - none of which were leashed.  I was surprised to see 100% of dogs not on leashes during the hike. 

Great hike - go now to see Washington's state flower in full bloom!