Mount Rose — Sunday, Apr. 6, 2014

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

We started our hike around noon on a Sunday after driving through rain to the trailhead. The clouds parted to provide partial sun on the way up the trail. The trail is lovely and well-maintained. It's easy to keep a fast pace on as there aren't lots of rocks and roots to trip on as you may find on some trails. We took the left (steeper) route up. The last 800 feet gain or so was significant snow. We found it helpful but not necessary to use poles/traction microspikes. Perhaps it's conditioning, but we didn't find this trail as difficult as stated- in less than 2 hours we were at the summit. We put on our warm layers (it was COLD and windy at the summit) and enjoyed lunch before continuing along the ridge for the descent. There is plenty of snow along the ridge, enough to posthole in if you aren't careful. This slowed us down a bit, but not too bad. Lovely views along the ridge! We'll have to come back on a day with more snow. Several streams are running right now, beautiful mossy rocks. Gorgeous old growth forest. For those in shape, this is a wonderful hike. And even if you're not in shape, there are lots of benches on the ascent- you could go about 1/2 way and still have a lovely view after a beautiful hike through the old growth. Our GPS states about 7 miles round trip and 3600 gain. It didn't agree well with the stated mileage or the summit elevation. Took us 4 hours rt including the stop at the top.