Mount Washington — Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022

With the weather forecast showing cloudy skies until mid-afternoon, I did not start my hike until after 10 am. There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot. Turned out that Seattle had cloud cover, while Mount Washington and Mt Rainier was pretty clear. From the top, I could even clearly see Mt Baker and Glacier Peak to the north, and a clear view of Mt Rainier to the south (photo). I could also see the Olympic mountains above the clouds.

This is probably the best time to hike Washington as the trail is smoother now and the snow is no real issue. Before long this mountain will get many feet of snow and be harder to climb.

There was no snow for the first mile or so, and then only a small amount of packed snow on the trail. After the Owl viewpoint, there was enough snow for someone to use snowshoes to make a nicely packed 15-inch-wide trail all the way to the top. (photo) The packed snow was still shallow until after the junction with the Olallie trail by the pond at 3 miles.

From the pond to the top the snow was persistent and easy to hike. I was surprised that the packed snow was not too icy. Off trail the snow was soft and not frozen. With a foot of snow on the upper portion of the hike, the trail was in much better shape than I had expected. 

The stream crossing (photo) near the Great Wall trail was easy to cross as the water flow is minimal. With recent rain and snow I was expecting to see more water on the trail and at this crossing. There is water on the main trail but there is plenty of room to bypass the water.

Some sections of the trail had a fair amount of brush over the trail (photo). I had to walk thru the brush and watch out for being hit in the face with branches.