A good day and Work Party.  There were 27 of us.  We got to do some improvements to a great trail.  Had lunch at the top.  Some photos during the morning safety and tool talk. 

Road to upper trailhead is closed, it will stay closed till April. no restroom at lower trailhead . I was part of WTA work party there , carried the tools all the way to top since the road to upper trailhead was closed. carrying those tools all the way up was not fun at all. trail is steep and in great shape for most of its part. we did some rebenching and removing branches and rocks from trail. we were working just below the top before lunch and went up to north viewpoint for lunch. mount Constance looked great from there along with buckhorn mountain , sweeping views of Baker and nearby area from North. very chilly on top and lots of people as well. this is a busy trail which makes trail work kind of hard as you have to stop very often. ground was frozen which made digging much harder but not problem walking up .

Did a quick hike up to the top. Took me about 1:15. Summit was socked in, but I got glimpses of blue sky on the way up. The north summit overlook, which also was the former site of a fire lookout, was a perfect meditation spot today.

This is my 3rd time doing this trail and it kills me every time. Yet it is so worth it at the top. All the mountains were out. Kulshan (Mt Baker), Tahoma (Mt Rainier), Pahto (Mt Adams) and Loowit (Mt St Helens). Always recommend going to both viewpoints. We got to see Seattle. The Hood Canal looked stunning. It took my friend and I about an hour and a half because this was a spontaneous hike so we took lots of mini breaks lol but still a good hike!

Set out early and caught the 7:10 a.m. ferry to Kingston. Decided to forgo breakfast and head straight for our first destination, Mt. Walker. There were a handful of cars in the lower lot across from the trailhead--we mostly had the trail to ourselves.

This hike ended up being 5.5 miles roundtrip thanks to some wandering around we did at the top in order to see both the northern and southern viewpoints. It was a bit overcast so we didn't have the stunning views from other pictures, but we were able to see some nearby mountains and it was just beautiful.

The hike itself was 2 miles uphill at 2,500 feet of elevation gain. This was no joke! I don't usually have to stop and rest but we stopped several times for water and simply to catch our breath. It was a terrific workout. I was grateful for my poles on the way down—they helped save my knees on the super steep sections of descent.