A solo trek today. I got to the trailhead at 7:40am and was the first car there. The first couple of miles up is the hardest. Once you get to horse camp, in my opinion, the rest of the way isn’t too bad. I took a left at the lollipop and there were tiny patches of snow here and there but it will all be gone soon. The trail is in great shape. Actually, I had never seen it up here without snow, so it looked so different and very beautiful. 

It started out as a cloudy morning but the sun came out and was shining on all the glorious wildflowers. Phlox, Penstemon, Indian Paint Brush, Bear Grass… I had the summit all to myself. So peaceful and beautiful. I’ve heard many people say they don’t like to bother with this trail because of the lack of views. I strongly disagree. The views are fantastic, and the fact that this is only one hour away from where I live makes it a very ideal trail for me to do conditioning hikes.

I came down the same way I went up because I just like that route and I like routine. My trip took 3:40 round trip. Such a beautiful day on this gorgeous mountain!

A leg burner to be sure! Our group (three hikers and a dog) took about five hours to hike Mount Rose. It was a warmer day, so we made sure to bring plenty of water. We ran into some small patches of snow near the summit, which our dog was happy to roll in.

All in all, it was a good workout, a short drive from our home (relative to the rest of the Olympics), and we were rewarded with beautiful views of Lake Cushman and the southern Olympics. Definitely earned our Hoodsport ice cream!

As a follow-up to rkjenner's typically helpful recent report, there is once again a portapotty at the trailhead: handicapped accessible and surprisingly clean.

The road to the trailhead has the usual potholes after the pavement ends, but they're not too deep and pretty easy to avoid most.

I did the summit loop clockwise, and there's more snow on the southern/climber's left side of the loop after Horse Camp. I postholed once, and because there's snow but the temperatures are warm enough to melt away footprints, I had to consult my map a couple of times to make sure I was on the route on this side. I think this is complicated by the fact that the predominant winter route didn't coincide with the actual trail, which is emerging from the snow covering. I carried microspikes but was never tempted to use them; plenty of purchase in the soft snow.

If you want the easiest up/down, you could just stay climber's right at Horse Camp and come back the same way. There's very little snow to navigate this way -- just a few blowdowns up on the ridge.

Speaking of the ridge, the last few times I've hiked Mt. Rose, I've done the up-and-down on the steeper side, and I had forgotten how pleasant the traverse up on the ridge can be.

Probably exacerbated because I went around dusk, some bugs were buzzing around me in the wooded/wet area above Horse Camp whenever I paused, but it wasn't bad.

Watch out for deer: I encountered them crossing the road on my drive both to and from the trailhead.

Oh, and if you were enjoying Nerds Gummy Clusters up near the summit, don't worry, I picked up your wrappers. ;-)

Hiked Mount Rose on 5/24/2025. Trail was a challenging but satisfying workout. We took the left loop from Horse Camp. Encountered snow at around 3900 feet. We got through it without microspikes or poles but we’re off-trail for a fair bit. Made it to a beautiful and clear summit. On the way down, the right side of the loop had much less snow which was a nice change. Enjoyed a picnic on the tables at the bottom.

The portapotty has been removed from the Mount Rose trailhead. In fact, all the portapottys at pullout areas along the lake road had been removed, too. A ripple effect from the global trade war, perhaps?

The trail up Mount Rose was in great shape. We saw no snow till well above Horse Camp at around 3600 feet where small scattered patches first appeared. The snow became continuous under cover of forest starting at 3700 feet. By 4100 feet, we were on the final ridge approach and all the snow disappeared. It remained completely dry all the way to the summit. We had taken the left loop out of Horse Camp and came down the same way. The density of the snow was mostly solid, making microspikes ideal. We saw a few areas where others had post-holed, but they were easy to avoid. It was a quiet Saturday. The weather may have played in part in keeping the weekend crowd away.