Mount Townsend — Friday, Nov. 5, 2004

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

I haven't been on the lower portion of the Mount Townsend trail for years. Like most hikers, I take the trail from the upper road to save energy. But since I figured we wouldn't make it to the top anyway, I thought it would be a good chance to take the lower trail past Sink Lake. The forest service says this portion of the trail is 1.2 miles, but it feels shorter than that. The elevation is only about 500 feet to the upper road. We were the only people parked at the trailhead and then found only two cars parked at the upper trailhead. Clearly, it would be a good day for solitude. The trail is in excellent shape and we continued upward to around 5100 feet, just before Camp Windy, when the trail became mostly covered in icy snow. I think it probably gets better after Camp Windy, because the mountain looked quite bare nearer the top. I think we hiked around 8 miles round-trip with 2300 feet elevation. I loved the beauty of the surrounding peaks and the sense of winter coming quickly.