Mount Rose — Saturday, Mar. 12, 2005

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

Mild winter made for a trail in good condition to Horse Camp at 2.5 miles and 3,010 ft. Patchy snow a few hundred feet above Horse Camp. Took the winter (left) fork. Trail becomes a little rough and harder to follow as we reached the top. Found some snow cover a solid few inches thick before summit. This trail gains 3500 feet in 3.2 miles with 52 major switch backs. Coming down can be hard on the knees. Steeper than Mount Si. Terrain off trail can be dangerous above Horse Camp, especially in snow. Cliffs and vertical drops into deep rock lined creek gullies are near the trail. Route finding in the snow is difficult because summit is forested and you can't see very far. If spring snow arrives consider other trails or do the lower portion to the falls unless you know the summit very well.