Mount Ellinor — Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020

With a winter storm on the way, this trail report may not be accurate for long, but these were conditions for Veteran's Day. A few miles from the Mt Ellinor Lower Trailhead, the road gets pretty slushy from melting snow & ice, and before you hit the lower trailhead parking lot, it got particularly dicey. It looked like several people, including me, decided to play it safe by parking a little further down the road. It didn't end up being a problem, but with more snow on the way, something to keep in mind.

The trail itself was in really good shape and there were a lot of parties on the trail for Veteran's Day wearing an easy-to-follow path to the summit. First mile or so of the trail was bare dirt, next half-mile or so is patchy snow, and then it's snow-covered the rest of the way (actually there was a bit of melting at the top). I ended up not using microspikes on the way up, but probably could have used them for the final summit push. Used them on the way down and didn't have any issues with slipping.

Ended up being a tale of two hikes: first three or so miles in the clouds and then the last scramble to the top put me above the clouds and offered up some truly spectacular views. Roundtrip was in the 3-4 hour range with a break at the top to soak the 360 panorama in. Half a dozen people at the top around noon with a number of parties making the final climb as I headed down.