Mount Townsend — Saturday, May. 24, 2025

Started from the upper trailhead. Road in was great as far as forest service roads go. There's a short section of very well maintained gravel before it is paved again. The paved road is narrow, curvy, and has plenty of sneaky potholes and dips, but my low clearance car was grateful for such a nice road. Arrived just before 11am and the parking area seemed full and there were several cars parked in the wide spots along the road, so I joined them. There is one tree across the trail right at the start which wasn't difficult to hop over, but I have fairly long legs. The trail seemed to start off with a lot of UP and later on, seemed to mellow out a bit. Snow on the trail began around 5,000 ft and was prominent through the switchbacks. It was mushy and slippery today, but other than that, I had no problem on the compacted boot path. Views at the top were phenomenal. All the mountains were out. Lots of people today, but luckily there is plenty of room to spread out.