Mount Washington — Saturday, Apr. 5, 2003

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

Wanting to take advantage of a brief high pressure system amid many days of rain I went to Mt Washington. Within a few minutes from the trail head there was some snow on the ground and it continued all the way up, gradually increasing in depth. Fortunately there was a hiking party somewhere ahead, breaking trail. At the Owl Hike spot (2800 ft) there was about 6 to 8 inches of snow. When I reached the logging road that traverses the east side of Mt Washington I encountered my three generous, hardworking, trailbreaking benefactors at about 3400 ft. A quick, informal vote elected me to trail break for awhile by a vote of three to one. From this point to the summit it was about three miles and the snow was probably 12 to 18 inches deep most of the way. On the summit there were plenty of clouds around with sun breaks and decent views in all directions. Snowshoes would definitely have been helpful for going both up and down. The snow was melting fairly rapidly below 3000 ft all day. The new $5 parking fee is a bad, bad idea and is going to discourage use of this area and tempt people to park outside the gate on the Exit 38 main road. Round trip: 12 miles, elev. gain 3400 ft, summit high point 4400 ft. Time up: 3 hrs 40 mins, time down 2 hrs 40 mins.