Mt. Walker
Weather forecast called for 3/4" of rain, but we figured that'd make the hike even better. Turns out our gamble was right.

This hike is excellent when done early in the morning with a poor weather forecast. No cars, no people, clean fresh air, a well drained trail (thanks WTA crews!), and rhododendrons blooming everywhere. The rain held off almost the entire hike while we worked our way up the trail. It's a good 10-20% grade, excellent for training oneself for hiking in the mountains when the alpine trails open up.

As for the rhododendrons, if you go when we did, you'll see a constant change in blooms as you gain elevation. The best blooms were higher up in what could best be described as a flower tunnel. Simply stunning. Highly recommend the hike.

Big crowds came later mid day as we made it back to the car. Definitely start this hike early.

Rainy but still a great day to see the blooming rhododendrons and watch the Olympic mountain range peak through the fog. The trail drains really well, and is in great condition. There were about 3 other groups on the trail and one car at the summit.

If you are a fan of Washington’s state flower, Rhododendron macrophyllum, then get thee to the Mt. Walker trail.  There is a particularly good display at the half-way point, now at peak bloom, and a number of almost-as-good displays above that point (displays less memorable on the lower part of the trail).  Pretty good displays in the summit area as well. It seems to be a week or so before peak bloom there.  Good rhododendron displays at places along the road which also accesses the summit. 

The trail is in excellent condition.  Tread is almost immaculate – this is one of the fairly unusual steepish trails (1000’/mile) in western Washington that is never rocks-and-roots.  It is typically 3’-4’ wide, but it is sometimes hard to get off the trail – so decent for social distancing but far from ideal.  Started hiking just before 7AM, hiked up the trail, and returned by walking the road (since it has has no social distancing problem at all); saw no one else on the trail and only one party of two people headed up on the road.  Saw one vehicle while in the summit area, and four more passed on the way hiking down the road.  There were no other cars at the trailhead at 7AM on a Friday, and ten others upon departure about 11:15AM – so there were likely something like 7-9 “groups” ascending the trail later in the morning.

Hiked with my daughter to top of Mt. Walker. Beautiful views, even though I understand they could be better on a sunnier day. The trail is steep, but there are rhodies blooming all the way up. So charming. I would say it's a good hike with children, if they are ok with a short, steep trail. The birds at the top will land on you in the hopes of food. You will reach the North view point and if you are willing to go another half mile you can get to see an additional view point. Trail is to the right and you follow the road. Rainier was not there today, but tiny Seattle was. Not big enough to see the protesters.

Foggy and rainy morning with amazing shows of the rhododendron. Trail was good and only started running into people on the way out.