Mount Townsend, Mount Townsend - Winter — Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

The Mt. Townsend trail is pretty well snowed in. We could not reach even the lower trailhead in a 4-wheel-drive CRV, so we had to park at the point where the road to the lower trailhead leaves FS 27. At that point, there is about a foot of snow on the ground, and slightly less under the trees. Snow depth increases from the lower trailhead. Sink Lake is currently frozen about 3 inches thick, so you can walk on it. Just below Camp Windy, the exposed portions of the trail seem rather avalance-prone, so keep in the trees as much as possible. At that point, 12-18 inches of powder prevented us from continuing. No other parties had been to Camp Windy since at least before the last snowfall.