Another gorgeous day on the Duckabush. The lilies on the switchbacks are probably days away from blooming, so I bet they'll be out by next weekend for sure. Otherwise, the wildflower report is red flowering currant, yellow violets, trillium, Oregon grape, and a few more small things I can't readily ID. Lots of water on the trail, as you would expect this time of year, but all of the WTA's hard work at adding extra drainage has paid off and it was never mucky. Likewise, the stream crossings were all running high, but the rock hops just needed a little extra finesse to keep your boots dry (poles helped too), but paws weren't so lucky. Blowdowns are more or less the same as when I was last here in November - nothing too major, and mostly past the vista on Big Hump. We went about a half-mile or so beyond Five Mile before having lunch and turning around.

What a beautiful spring day on the peninsula! We covered 7 miles across both trails.

On the Duckabush, we turned back just before Big Hump because of time. The trail’s in great shape and surprisingly not too muddy or wet. The river was gorgeous, so we stopped for lunch by one of the campsites.

Murhut Falls is a quick but awesome hike if you're in the area.

The Road to the trailhead was very snowy once you hit the dirt section of Road and some of the potholes were very deep.

The first half of the trail up little hump and down the other side were in good shape but once we hit the flat section on the other side of little hump we had to put our microspikes on.  Once we started up big hump it was pretty snow free up the switchbacks and on to snack rock where we turned around.  There was some water running down the trail in places going up big hump but nothing to worry about.  Stream crossings weren't bad either.

Beautiful sunny, clear Saturday, in this dry, low snow January. We got to the trailhead at 10:30 and they were a dozen cars between the upper and lower trail heads. We had brought ice walkers, but never needed them. The approach road and trail are in great condition with a number of easy downed logs over the trail closer to 5 mile camp.
There are good campsites by the river at 2.2 miles, and a large camp at 5 mile camp that could accommodate several parties. As we were heading out, we passed a group of three heading in with backpacks. Gorgeous trail and a gorgeous day to be out.

Went for a quick overnight to 5 mile camp from Saturday to Sunday! The forest floor and top of big hump are completely different worlds. The forest floor is super frosty/cold/dark and the top of big hump felt like a warm spring day! It got into the low 20s at 5 mile camp, but we had tons of layers and made a good fire. If you're thinking of doing an overnight and want to make a fire I'd recommend bringing in a bundle of store bought wood and kindling (and a hatchet) as it would have been very hard to make a fire without them. The wood you find out there will burn, but takes some extra time to heat up due to the layer of frost. Also, we are convinced that without the proper layering it would be hard to survive a night out there with the current cold conditions. So even though it's sunny, mostly dry and snow free, layer up and treat it like a winter camp in the alpine for sure!