Mt. Aix is a long and gradual ascent. Other than the last 0.5 mile summit push, it did not have the vertical gain per foot that many of us Seattlie-ites are familiar with from the peaks along the 90 corridor. This made the the gain feel manageable. It was hard, not as hard as Mt. Baldy for example. Not a crowded trail, passed just a handful of people - although not many wore masks.
It was a fairly clear day. We spotted 4 volcanoes - Tahoma, Adams, St. Helens, and even Baker in the distance from the Aix summit. Spectacular views.
At about 2 miles in the trail is fairly washed out. We did not scrambled, but took the hike around to the top. This stretch has a lot of loose rocks and slipping would be disastrous. Having poles was for this section was helpful and the last mile to the summit took us about 37 min (compared to our 27min mile average pace the rest of the way).
No bugs, lots of wildflowers near the top.
Clocked 13.2 miles, 4.6K gain, and a 6hr 1min moving time according to All Trails.
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