Mount Washington — Wednesday, Jul. 2, 2014

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

My friend David and I wanted a short, nearby hike of no more than moderate difficulty for our first outing of the season, and neither of us, despite decades of hiking around the Cascades, had been on Mt. Washington. Bingo. We picked up Adam, a visitor from the Czech Republic, who has hiked all over the world but not in the Cascades, at 9:00, and were at the trailhead in time for a 10:00 start. It was a lot of up. 3250 says the guide, and that was about right. A lot of it is fairly steep, mostly through second-growth forest, not many views, a trail of rocks that were probably put there (by WTA crews?) to protect from erosion, but made it hard on old feet. A few salmonberries for refreshment. The summit cone got a bit more interesting, with gorgeous fields of beargrass in bloom, and eventually views out to Rainier and down to Chester Morse Lake in the Cedar River watershed. The occasional tiger lily and columbine added to the color. We reached the summit at 12:22, the first ones there for the day. The combination of humidity, sweat, and June brought out the skeeters and ants, but they were only mildly annoying, so we enjoyed lunch at the top. We encountered more people on the way down, but only about 10 total, and they were all very friendly. Back to the trailhead with sore toes at 3:07, total 2:22 up, 1:37 down. A good way to get in shape for the really interesting hikes to come, and home in plenty of time for dinner.