Mailbox Peak - Old Trail — Friday, Mar. 19, 2004

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

I recently saw a web site with reviews of the ""55 Hikes In Snoqualmie Pass"" guide book. One reviewer belittles the book (and it's editors) for driving directions that he regarded as inadequate. I thought that the reviewer sounded a little crabby. I should apologize. The directions to Mailbox Peak in that book are not wrong, but it is not clear where the driving directions end and where the hiking directions begin. (Note for novice speakers of Guidebookese; the driving instructions end when the first altitude is given.) For Mailbox peak, park just past the point where the paving ends, near a gated road, and then hike up that road. Also, the book suggests that the point at which the trail departs from the road used to be a little hard to find. No longer, there is now an obvious tread where the trail leaves the road. However, I did not find any signs saying either ""4841"" or ""Mailbox"", nor could I find the toothbrush of local lore. The trail leaves the road just before the road traverses the height of a rib coming down the mountain. As the book says, there is a stream just beyond the trail. Oddly, this trail is situated right on the height of the rib. As others have mentioned, this trail gets steep quickly and stays that way almost all the way to the top. A little snow was encountered at about 2300 feet, but it never accumulated to much more than a cm or two. With warm days like today it should be gone soon. It just made today's footing rather tricky. I was happy to have my trekking poles with me. At about 4100 feet, where the trees give way to boulder fields and the winter snows accumulate, there was still quite a bit of snow. The old snow was practically bullet proof and the shallow layer of relatively fresh snow made it slippery. An ice ax might be welcome if you climb this hill early in the morning. I imagine that it becames easier to maintain footing after the sun warms it. However, evidence from the snow suggests that you have to watch for postholing into huge gaps between the rocks when the snow gets soft. Watch for the large cornice at the top - I did not see any large overhangs but that is no guarantee! The top of the mailbox, and what looked like the top of a fire hydrant, were visible above the snow. There are Dr. Suess books aplenty in the mailbox, but they are a trifle wet. Great views to Glacier, Baker, Rainier, and out to the Olympics. It was hazy, though, in spite of a very stiff breeze at the top. I passed about seven other folks on the way down, and saw several more heading up the road from the parking lot at about 1:00 pm. My watch mutinied and fled from my wrist sometime on descent (bummer), so I'm not exactly sure of the time. The trail is in surprising good shape, with only a few logs over the trail.