High Rock — Sunday, Mar. 1, 2015

South Cascades > White Pass/Cowlitz River Valley

WOW! What a view at the top! Drove in via NF85 to NF8440. NF85 is suitable for all vehicles. It did have some sinking asphalt to beware of. Like small car eating holes. NF8440 is gravel and mud. For the most part is was easy to pass but on the switchback second from the top there are some DEEP grooves that a car with low clearence could get stuck in if you didn't line your wheels up just right to avoid them. There were of course holes filled with water that needed to be passed with care but most vehicle could handle them. A little snow on the roadway as well but melted where the tires passed thru. Parking was not an issue on a sunny Sunday at noon. There were about 8 cars in the parking area when I arrived. Even from the parking area the views are amazing. Climbed up the smaller rock in the parking area (about 10 steps up and 10 down) to take in the view before hiking thru trees. The trail starts off with a fair amount of elevation gain from the beginning before settling into a more gradual climb. It is a pretty narrow path with drops off on both sides for most of the hike. The first mile had just a dusting of snow in most parts which didn't create any issues. Around the halfway point I encountered the first tree across the trail. Wiener dog went under and I went over. about 20 more feet up the trail was another tree down. Both the dog and I went over. I crossed about 10 more down trees. Some ranged from simply stepping over to crouching below to finding a new way completely because the tree fell over and pulled the whole base (roots included) over the trail. By the time your climbing over trees the tail is covered in snow and it's packed down pretty good. The snow did make some of the bigger trees a little more difficult to cross because it was hard to get good footing on the already sloping trail. Nearly 3/4 of the way up the trail you break out to a ledge that has a partially obstructed view of Mt. Rainier and an excellent view of Mt. Adams. This ledge was pretty much snow free. After taking a short break I continued up. The rest of the path from here up was completely snow covered and icy in many places. A pair of microcrampons would have been nice to have since I did a lot of sliding. More on the way down than up. Once reaching the ledge that the lookout is on the snow is melting away. The view was breath taking. I was able to see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. St Helens, and Mt. Hood. Looking forward to doing this hike again. It's probably my favorite hike .