Mount Townsend — Thursday, Jun. 1, 2017

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

Headed up via the Little Quilcene trail today to Moint Townsend. The road is great to start but does get progressively rougher the higher you go. Even so, with some slow going in spots, it should be accessible by most vehicles, even lower clearance ones. The trail is in excellent condition. There were two small blow downs within the first mile. All others have already been taken care of which was wonderful. It was pretty tiring that first mile but then the muscles warmed up and the hike got fun. The first two miles on Little Quilcene are more your standard hike thru growth. Some flowers but it seems it's still rather early, especially for the rhodendrons. There are some snowfields still on this trail. They're passable without traction but I did use my hiking poles for added stability both on the way up and back. Once you make the turn onto Mount Townsend, it isn't long before you're rewarded with some outstanding views of a valley and nearby mountains. The sun and sky played peek-a-boo for a while. Headed up the exposed area to the true summit and had a snack. What a glorious area. Reminds me a bit of the Highlands of Scotland. Only saw 4 folks at the summit and no others the entire day.