Nice to escape the crowds of the other various hikes around the valley; only ran into about 7 other people, one being a gentleman who was doing some maintenance on the trail. A special shout out to this guy, could definitely notice the difference in his handiwork on the way down! After the heavy rains here over the past couple days, the trail itself is very washed out which didn't make the normally rocky trail any easier. There is quite a bit of erosion over the course of the entire hike and good portions of the trail is currently a stream.
About 2+ miles in we hit snow which ranged anywhere from 4-8+ inches deep. Despite having my microspikes, they were of little use. Unfortunately the snow wasn't completely compact but was rather in the process of melting which made footing quite difficult. While some places were icy, post-holing in the snow wasn't uncommon either. It was quite the slippery ascent and definitely slowed us down after the already steep rocky trail prior.
Took as a total of 4.5 hours to reach the top and a 2 hour descent, but definitely worth the view and escaping the tourists. Could see as far as Mount Rainier, the Olympics, Glacier Peak and Mount Shuksan. However most everything past North Bend was in the fog.
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