Mount Washington — Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

I believe Scotty and I were the first on the trail this day, we saw 6 others. If you plan on hitting this summit by way of the direct route(not the Great Wall route), do yourself a favor and turn left (west) at the 3rd juction. You can't mistake this turnoff as it is along the bank of the only pond near any trail on Mt Washington. We made the mistake of heading East, and the further mistake of continuing past where the snowshoe tracks we were following turned back. This overgrown remnant of an abandoned forest road dissapears at the base of the steep North face. It was slow going in well over 3 feet of snow, and there was probably some risk of avalanche, but we weren't turning back. It took us nearly 4 1/2 hours to reach the summit, by far my slowest trip. The sky was slightly overcast, but we got a few sunbursts and the summit was relatively windless. Baker and Glacier Peak were clearly visible to the north.