I have wanted to explore Mt Washington for some time and today seemed like the perfect day to do it! My friend Shawn and I arrived to an empty parking lot at around 9:30am and quickly began ascent. The trail is snow free until you reach 3412’ where snow is roughly 4’ but still held our weight without post holing. At 3805’ you come across a small boulder field where snow still filled most of the holes between the boulders but we were able to safely navigate ontop of the snow without breaking through. With the amount of sun and warm temps I would warn to use caution here. Past 3805’ the trail is completely snow covered but navigation was easy due to other hiker’s tracks. I was using my GPS and found that the tracks were correct. The snow was starting to get a lot softer the higher we got due to less tree coverage but again were able to stay ontop of the of snow. At 3871’ you arrive to an open clearing overlooking I-90 and North Bend. Stunning views! At this point you can look up and see the summit. We continued our ascent into the tree line where the snow became more solid but the footing got a little trickier as the foot path narrowed a bit but we managed fine with trail running shoes. At roughly 4279’ you rise above the tree line where the snow is spotty at best and the final push to the summit is snow free. We signed the summit register and eat a quick snack before starting our descent. I put on my Kahtoola microspikes for better traction while my friend managed to do fine with his Hokas. Again, I would advise carrying traction devices just in case. Surprisingly on our descent we crossed paths with a couple of friends who were close to the summit themselves. We chatted a bit and then parted our own ways. We crossed paths with 3 or 4 more couples who were 1st time visitors and provided them with trail beta. We arrived to a semi –full parking lot at the trailhead. It took us 3.5 hours roundtrip from car to summit and back to the car.
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