Had a nice little day (and night) hike up to Mt. Jupiter on Monday, Feb 21. There was a gate closed on the main gravel road at the power lines, but this was bypassed on some of the many other dirt tracks in the vicinity (4WD/high clearance recommended). The road was in fairly good shape, and recently travelled, all the way up to the trailhead. There was snow and some ice on the shady parts of the road, most was bare and dry. No snow at the trailhead, but a nice view over the clearcuts. There's a bit of a climb at the beginning, after which the trail levels out through the pleasant second growth woods. The trail is all in excellent shape, with little erosion, and only one little blowdown and some small rocks on the trail. The woods are nice, with lots of lush green salal, oregon grape, roses, wintergreens etc. Patchy snow (from last weekend) started around 4000', and occasionally on shady slopes the trail was snow filled as you climb towards the summit. The new snow was no problem, but there were a few drifts of old, hard snow covered with loose new snow as you started traversing the first of the main peaks and along the summit ridge. An ice axe would have been reassuring, but we didn't have any. It wasn't too scary in mid-afternoon. The final switchbacks up to the summit were mostly snow free thanks to the southern exposure, but there is drifted snow on the north side of the summit, and the basins below are snow covered, including the frozen-over nearest lake. Generally speaking, all the south slopes are snow free, and north slopes (which the trail usually avoids) are snowy above 4000 to 4500 feet. Some of the shrubs are starting to bud up high, but otherwise no signs of spring. Hard to say if spring flowers will come early up there, or not at all this year. Hiking back the lower half of the trail in the dark was nice - it's smooth enough you don't need a light (with a little moon light) except for maybe the final descent to the trailhead. A nice little walk in the woods, and fantastic views of the Cascades, Constance, The Brothers, Anderson, Washington etc. and Seattle. Even got to see a little steam cloud coming out of St. Helens just before sunset. Be prepared to deal with at least a little snow and ice, though.

M and I made it to the locked gate only a few minutes behind our planned schedule. The Forest Service road to the gate is in terrible condition and was being prowled by a half dozen hunters in trucks of varying roadworthiness. Neither of us had anything orange and that made me a bit nervous. As we were gearing up, one hunter, probably in his 20s, stopped and asked if we were going hiking. “Yes” I said. He looked at me funny for doing so. I looked at him funny for hunting out the window of his truck. He offered to show us a route around the gate up a road under the power lines, so we followed him. If anyone else wants to try this, you better have 4WD. We encountered another locked gate only a mile beyond the one we had just gone around, but hey, that’s two miles off the hike. We geared up again and walked away from the gate at 0950, only 20 minutes behind our planned departure. The weather yesterday was surprisingly good, and the same will be said about tomorrow as well, but today it was foggy and overcast. The hike up the FS road was dull, I would much rather have driven over this part. About three miles up, we arrived at the trailhead and signed in. The trail from here immediately begins switch-backing up, up, and up. It levels out though and is a really nice trail. I happen to love the more primitive trails, and this was a great one. There are just a few logs in the trail to divert the rain water, but other than that it was just a nice un-engineered hard-pack trail. You have to love the Olympics! There’s not much more to report about this section of the path, it was just deep mossy forest of the kind you have to see to appreciate. Just prior to arriving at the Brother’s Wilderness boundary, we began to see small patches of wet snow, I found this humorous. The snow began to cover more and more of the trail above 4200’ or so. By 4800’ the trail was completely covered to about 4 inches deep. The path began the switchback thing again and by 5000’ the snow was easily 6 to 8 inches deep. There were signs that the snow had drifted at one time, but now it was just wet and heavy. The drifts were knee deep in many places and I was wishing I had gaiters to keep the snow out of my boots. Soon, we were post holing in hip deep snow drifts, having trouble even locating the trail, and near the top we were stopping to catch our breath every 20 yards or so. We were making bad time and purposely ignoring this important fact. We were so close and had come so far that the nagging thoughts of turning back were easy to quell. In hindsight…. At the summit, I was no longer generating the same heat that I was when I was struggling up the steep hill in the deep snow, and the cold began to set in. After about 10 minutes I began to shiver uncontrollably. I walked back to my pack, put on my hat, put my jacket back on, and my gortex over that. My gloves were now soaked and useless so M offered me her spare mittens. I should point out that neither of us anticipated snow in the Olympics this early in the season, and I had not dressed or packed for such a contingency. I looked over at M shivering and could tell we’d been up here too long. The great thing about hiking with M is that if you ask her how she’s doing, she tells you straight up. She told me she was not doing well. There was a sense of almost despair in her voice so I set a pace that was a bit fast down the hill. Faster was not easier but I wanted to get us both out of the snow and the exertion would increase body heat. I had lost contact with my fingertips and toes so I was pretty sure she was not doing any better. M was walking with her hands in her coat pockets letting her poles drag along behind. Even with my poles I was having trouble staying upright, slipping over concealed rocks and unseen potholes in the trail. An injury now would not be good, and could, in fact, be downright dangerous. We didn’t stop and rest until we made it to the wilderness boundary, snow free and slightly warmer. I wrung out my wool socks and wondered how my spare pair had gotten out of my pack. It was getting late in the afternoon and we plodded along down the trail, more of a death march than hike by now. I had set my GPSr to track-back and the distance counting down was little comfort as it seemed to change little between the times I checked it. Darkness came early in the forest, earlier with the fog and overcast, so with only half the distance between the summit and the trailhead covered (not to mention the walk from the trailhead back to the gate); I had my headlamp on to light the way through the pitch black forest. After what seemed an eternity, we made the trailhead and signed out, and then plodded down the FS road back to the truck. In the end, we had hiked just over 20 miles; the elevation gain was in the neighborhood of 4800’, in just over 11 hours. I doubt our total rest stops would add up to even one hour. The hike was fun but the closed gates to the trailhead made it much tougher than it needs to be, and that three miles is very dull.

This is a great time to visit Mount Jupiter. The trail is completely clear of snow, and mile after mile of rhododendrons are in bloom! From US 101 along Hood Canal about a half-mile north of Duckabush, turn onto Mount Jupiter Road. After the pavement ends, the road is rough and forks often. The correct fork is either obvious or posted, except for the last one, where you want to bear left. (Some kind soul has hung a red flag from a tree, but it may not be there by the time you read this.) The trail begins with a half-dozen steep switchbacks decorated with hundreds of blooming rhododendrons. After about 3/4 mile, the trail reaches the ridge top and levels off. The miles roll by easily as the trail follows the narrow forested ridge. Patches of Canadian dogwood carpet the ground. At about three miles, take a break on a rocky promontory and enjoy the view of The Brothers, still draped with snow. To the southwest, Mount Rainier rises beyond the green valley of the Duckabush and Hood Canal. Mounts Adams and Saint Helens are also visible. Back on the trail, another shy mile takes you to the posted boundary of The Brothers Wilderness. Now the fun begins. The trail steepens, and soon you emerge from the forest. Wildflowers abound. Perhaps, as I did, you will have the pants scared off you when a grouse explodes at your feet. The last mile is very steep and rocky. Shade is scarce. Good thing you got an early start. False summits appear and tantalize. Finally, abruptly, seven-plus miles from the start, you run out of up. What a view! Hood Canal and Puget Sound are spread out before you like a map. The Brothers and Mount Constance are next-door neighbors. All your favorite volcanoes dot the horizon. Maybe you can even see your house. I have a special fondness for Mount Jupiter, because it’s the only peak I have been atop that I can also see out my living room window. Unfortunately, from Federal Way, Mount Jupiter appears an insignificant knoll, so it’s hard to impress guests with tales of conquering it. Bugs were not a problem on this hike, except for the yellow jacket that stung me at the summit. I think he was after my peanut butter sandwich.

Mt. Jupiter is a hike I have planned several times in the past. Each time the weather turned poor and I ended up going far to the east. I tried one more time and the weather was great. If anything it was too hot. It was clear and the views were spectacular. Gary was free and joined me. We met in Federal Way and it was almost exactly 2 hours from there to the trailhead. The Mt. Jupiter road is .9 miles north of the Duckabush River. There are multiple spur roads but all the major ones had signs. There are no trees to impair ones view from the trailhead. Hood Canal is just below. The Brothers can also be seen from there. We were on the trail at 9:00 am. 15 people in several groups left just ahead of us. So much for solitude... The trail begins by switchbacking up to near the top of the ridge. In this first section we managed to pass all 15 hikers. It was warm when we started and only became warmer as the day went on. After gained about 900' the trail flattened. In fact we netted only about another 600' in the next 3+ miles. There were several ups and downs. The largest lost 200'. The first 5 miles are mostly in forest. There are a few viewpoints to the south. Rhododendrons go much higher up the mountain than I was expecting. At the trailhead and for several hundred feet above the rhrody flowers are finished. Higher up they are very much still in bloom. We continued to see them until well above 4000'. Since the middle of the trail is so flat it goes very quickly. A little before the 5 mile mark there is a viewpoint just off the trail. The Duckabush Valley is below, The Brothers are high above, and Hood Canal is to the east. There is a huge waterfall just below The Brothers that is most spectacular. A few minutes later we reached the wilderness boundary. The first 5 miles took us 2 hours. With only 2 miles left it looked like lunch at noon on top. It was getting very hot now. The trail left the dense forest and became more and more in the open. There were flowers in the forest but they really exploded higher up. In addition to the rhododendrons we saw paintbrush, columbine, phlox, heather, penstemon, and many more. By the time we had reached about 6 miles we were scratching our heads. We were only about a mile from the summit but we were reading about 1200' to go. Finally the trail ended the long traverse and began to switchback up the slope. At this point a hiker passed us coming down. The heat was really getting to me and I slowed considerably. Gary wanted to sprint to the summit so I gave him the OK to take off. The upper section of trail is one of the best I have hiked. The views of the Olympics and the Cascades get better and better. The trail is airy without having any really exposed spots. A few sections were blasted out of the hillside. When the trail first reached the ridge top views opened to the north. All five Washington volcanoes were visible. It was so clear that there was not a single cloud in the sky. Even at my glacially slow pace I managed to pass one hiker. I finally reached the summit about 15 minutes after Gary. He had done Jupiter back in 1986 but on a cloudy day with no views. The location of Jupiter gives it much better views than it's 5701' elevation would suggest. It is very close to Hood Canal with no other peaks near by. The Duckanbush River on the south and the Dosewallips on the north carve deep valleys on both sides. We could peaks in British Columbia and Mt. St. Helens down near Oregon. Seattle is just east and downtown is very clear. The Olympic peaks are visible from Washington in the south to Mt. Townsend in the north. The Brothers and Mt. Constance seem the largest. I think I recognized Mt. Anderson as well. After lunch the masses arrived. The summit is large enough for 20 people but it was a little too loud for us. We hiked around the north side of the summit to a point where we could see Jupiter Lakes. One is mostly clear and another is snow covered. The north side of the peak still has a fair amount of snow. There was not a drop on the trail. We found a secluded spot in the shade of a large rock and relaxed. On of the best parts of the hike was the long summit stay. We spent nearly 3 hours on top. At 3:00 we packed up and headed down. In the first 1/2 mile we passed several groups still coming up. They were going very slow in the heat of the day. The trip down was long and uneventful. After the first 2+ miles we reentered forest and it cooled down immensely. We stopped at several viewpoints and had a liesurely hike down. The 100 hikes guide lists this trip at 14 miles and 3600' gained. Don't believe it. It is about 14 1/2 and 4400' with ups and downs. It was a brutally hot day but it was worth it to have such clear views. This is a great trip for strong hikers. Photos should be posted in a few days at: http://www.hikingnorthwest.com. Go to ""Trips-2003"" on the left margin.

Mt Jupiter trail is clear of snow to the summit, Jupiter Lakes are a snowbowl, rhodies are still a couple weeks off up high. Since when is The Brothers visible from the TH? I thought it was forested last year.