Mount Pilchuck — Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021

Haven't been up to Pilchuk in years, so I thought, why not?  The road up is its usual awfulness - took me about an hour to go seven miles in a high clearance 4wd - and still bottomed out a couple times.  Pit toilet at the trail head is still open, and was stocked.  Trail head is at about 3200 feet, and slush started on the road at about 3000 feet.  On the trail, snow was pretty consistent by 3500 feet, and by the time I reached the top, 5200 feet or so, the snow was about six to eight inches deep.  I was up in the clouds there, with breezy conditions and snow falling, so I didn't much stick around.  The way back down was more difficult than coming up, as the temperature was rising and the snow was getting slick and nasty over all the technical bits that are about half the trip.  So there's the sort of technical details.  Let's talk the emotional details.

Not a single soul up there.  Except for a bear, who crossed the trail about the two mile-marker maybe an hour(?) before I got there.  The snow dampened all sounds except my pulse, the wind and the falling snow, and a lone pika.  It was glorious. I saw a *LOT* of pika tracks in the snow, but never saw any and only heard the one.  Maybe this relatively early snow took them by surprise?  I had intended on cooking up a hot meal at the lookout, but it was so breezy up there, with no way to get out, that I decided on cold trail bars on the way down.  Maybe next time.  I would have loved to spend more time, and I had the kit and the gear, but in the end I just wasn't feeling more time exposed to wind-driven snow and fog.