Mailbox Peak - Old Trail — Friday, Sep. 21, 2001

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

It was a bright sun shiny day so I decided to check out Mailbox Peak. If you like your trail steep, then this one is for you. Once you leave the DNR road this trail is only flat for about the first 200 yards as it goes along a small creek. After that is gets with the program of getting to the summit in the shortest distance possible, like a climbers path or an old miners trail. No nice long switch backs, so be prepared, as your legs will let you know what kind of shape your are in. It seems to take forever to get up through the trees (at least there is a lot of shade on those sunny days) when you finally break out into the brushy area with lots of blue berries. Then up some more through more trees to get around a large boulder field area. Finally the summit ridge comes into view, but you can't see the top yet. Up the ridge until you can spot the mailbox and you now know it isn't to much farther. It seems a lot longer then the 3 miles up listed in the guide book. There is 4,106' gain on this hike and you feel it all. Only six hikers made the top today. Nices views all around. Rainier to Glacier Peak. The mail box was full with two summit register books, some letters that never got picked up by the U.S. Postal Service, an 8-Ball and some misc. stuff. The flag on the side of the mailbox is a rubber chicken. Treking poles are handy for this trip.