Mount Washington — Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

I didn't have time to make it all the way up to the top this day, so I turned around near the "“Owl Hike Spot," mentioned in WTA's description, about half way. First of all, the driving directions on this site are correct, but I'll add that the trail head you are looking for is called the "Homestead Valley Trailhead." I got here at around 6:00 a.m., and there were just two cars there. I was a little confused because there are NO mentions of Mt. Washington on any signage here. Oh well. Secondly, the spur trail isn't RIGHT by the bathroom, as I expected, so don't look over there. It's more in the middle of the parking lot. There's only one way to go, at this point, so don't worry about taking the wrong trail here. As far as finding the actual start of the Mt. Washington trail, it's easier than described. Just follow the trail from the parking lot until you hit the gravel road, go right, and just keep going straight up. When you see the small sign on the RIGHT for the John Wayne Pioneer trail, you're almost there. Now start looking to your LEFT for a small opening into the woods - it's NOT the opening directly across from the sign, it's the SECOND one, which is framed by two trees and some bushes, with a small pile of rocks in front of it (not stacked into a cairn when I was there). JJ Hikers did a trip report a few weeks back that shows a great picture of it. The trail itself is in pretty good shape, but is covered in many spot by lots of small loose rock, which is slightly tiring. Even so, I made it to my turnaround point in less than an hour - it's marked by a stone "bench" against a rock wall on the left. The views here were sort of disappointing, to be honest. I just did Little Si and Rattlesnake Ledge, and both had far superior views. In fact, if you go off-trail near the very beginning of the trail (on the left, near some big blowdowns), you can almost get better views there. The trail does run alongside some towering, sheer rock walls, which were the neatest part IMHO. I had a little extra time so I went a little further. The next section is very flat. There are lots of berry bushes here, but not many berries right now. There is also a very muddy section, but you can hop from small rock to small rock and make through un-muddied. There is also a tiny stream crossing, but you can walk right over it (it gets cold near here!) I turned around when the trail started climbing again. When I returned to the trail head at 8:15 a.m., there were maybe 10 cars, though I only saw around 5 people on the Mt. Washington trail on the way down (Twin Falls shares the same trail head.) All in all, still a nice day on a mountain, so I'm not complaining, but, if you have very limited hiking time available, I'd do the nearby Little Si or Rattlesnake Ledge instead. Or, go all the way to the top, I'm guessing it's a whole different experience.