First person to the trailhead @ 8:00 AM. Beautiful weather for a hike: sunny and relatively cool. The trail is in decent shape, with one largish blowdown near the top, on the steep (left) part of the summit loop. The view of the lake was clear, but the clouds started pretty much right over the dam, and everything else was socked in at around 1000'. Could see Rainier, Adams, and St. Helens sticking their heads up. Needed to put on my fleece while sitting on the summit eating lunch. Only saw about 10 other people coming up as I was on my way out, around 11:30.

What a beautiful day for a hike! We got an early start, which I would HIGHLY recommend for this hike, as it is a workout. More than 1000 feet up for every mile in. The trail starts going up almost immediately and you won't see more than a cursory break in altitude gain throughout the entire trip to the summit. Bring lots of water and be prepared for some hard work. That said, the view at the top is more than worth the effort. It was a semi-hazy day for us, but we could still see all the way out to Mt. Rainier and the far side of Puget Sound. The Olympics themselves were amazing as well. The trail was in great shape, only a handful of small blowdowns to navigate around, but nothing worth getting excited about. Great hike if you want some physical challenge and a quiet trail. We saw fewer than a dozen other hikers the entire day.

There is nothing like Mt Rose when you need your ass kicked. We headed up Saturday and headed up the relentless trail. We made the summit with no issue. There were no snow on the trail worth mention. The trail was in good shape and we got in our workout. Everyone survived. The total elevation via GPS was 3727 and, since it is about 3 miles up it works out to an average of 1250+ ft per mile which is a great test for out St Helens climb 6/27. Just do this hike. It is always tough and always worth the effort. More pictures and story at http://dog-walks-man.blogspot.com/2013/07/an-ass-kicking-backpacking-backtracking.html

The was my first hike of the season. Yes a bad choice for a man who ate a full bag of jelly beans the night before. The hike was fantastic and i did make it to the tome and back down although I will pay for it tomorrow. Very little snow up towards the summit. Trail in great condition some downed trees nothing that will stop you. Trust me if I made it you can. It was a fantastic and clear view. Trail was dry.

The snow that kept us from the top five weeks ago is almost all gone now. The remaining patches are easy to cross. There are blowdowns, but none are too hard to get past. We enjoyed the hike even though the clouds blocked the views. There are wild flowers, neat trees and giant rocks to see. We will go back on a clear day to see the views. It is steep! We are glad we followed the directions and took the steep left side up and came down the gentler right side. Both are worth seeing.