The Mt. Rose trail was nearly empty today due to heavy precipitation. The lower 3/4 of the mountain had heavy rain, the upper 1/4 had heavy snowfall. The trailhead and trail are in good shape, but it is very easy to lose your way on the snow covered trail. Mt. Rose is a trail of constant switchbacks in the trees. I have climbed it twice this winter and not made it to the top because of lack of knowledge of where the trail is over snow. There are no tree markings of any kind, and few if any landmarks. Also, it seems like people's tracks are in different locations in the snow each time I go up there. Next time someone goes up the mountain in the snow, I advise ignoring footprints and navigating the top 1/4 of the mountain on you own. Oh... by the way. The wild yellow violets are just starting to bloom on the lower part of the slopes. The waterwall was very nice today due to the heavy rainfall. Snow accumulations near the top are 4 feet or deeper. Bring your ice ax!

I've been saving this peak for a snowshoe trip but I forgot the snowshoes! My wife Rachelle and I drove to the trailhead during the night, arriving at 3 am to the trailhead parking area next to Lake Cushman. After 6 hours of sleep in the truck, we started hiking at 9am with sunny skies. The trail starts around 800 feet and climbs to 4300. Somewhere around 3200 feet where the loop trail splits, we hit consistent snow. Everything was still going well until 3600 feet when the tracks we were following stopped. Usually this is no big deal, I would strap on our snowshoes and we would climb up to the summit. The snow was deep. At first, I was up to my knees, and then it got even deeper. I was not going to loose out on the summit because I was stupid enough to forget the snowshoes. My drive for the summit and my anger kept me pushing onward. Somewhere along the way, I left my wife because she was cursing me for taking her on another death march. I continued another half hour finally reaching the summit. I had dropped my pack about 10 minutes back so I had no camera to take pictures of the limited views. When I got back to my pack, there was Rachelle sitting, waiting patiently for her obsession crazed, summit happy husband. She had made it within 300 feet of the summit. Impressive since she was up to her waist in the fresh stuff.

Seattle and the Sound were completely fogged in, but just a little way past Hoodsport, we drove through the fog, and emerged into beautiful sunshine. My friend, and his two dogs planned to do something near Lake Cushman... Mt Ellinor required crampons and ice axes, and Dry Creek had Cougar reports, which weren't good when you had dogs running about. So we decided to do Mt. Rose. Both of us are in good shape, but this is a killer trail. I didn't have as much trouble climbing as my friend did, but the descent wiped me out. I nearly crawled back to my truck. Three days later and I'm still sore... my quads are killing me. The view from the top was good, not quite as good as Mt Zion, but it was nice... There's a blowdown on the Summit Trail, which you can go around or under. No water on the trail.... it's in great shape. There's no water on the Summit trail, so bring some for the pooches for at the top. If you come down the Ridge Trail, there was the wildest color of Green in the trees I had ever seen. And oh... by the way... Ignore the switchback count... there's a lot more than they say there are... and it's all very relentlessly steep. There are NO flat spots anywhere on this trail.

Nov 10. Light rain didn't stop us on this wonderful trail, well maintained thanks to some great people (see notice at trailhead & plaque at loop jnct.) This trail has waterfalls , good looking log crossings at streams, monster rocks , a couple of nice viewpoints with log benches plus is a great workout as well. About 6.4 miles round trip, begin 840 feet, summit 4300. Loop junction to summit is around 3000, suggest hike clockwise up the steeper west direction, less chance of slipping when descending the easier easterly side of loop. Snow begins to stick at 3500, about 4-6 inches near the summit, suggest pack instep or standard crampons soon for icy conditions, poles are a must as trail is steep. Tree has fallen across trail on westbound loop but able to duck under.

This is an excellent hike for conditioning and views. The trail is steep over 3000 feet of elevation gain in 3.2 miles but with the reward of super views from the top. This hike is best done in cool sunny weather as elevation gain burns alot of calories producing sweat and a need to hydrate. Did this hike last year in the fog and could not make out any of the views (lots of work with little reward). This year could see Mt. Rainer, Copper Mt., Mt. Ellinor and others from the summit and summit ridge. Recommend doing the ridge trail down as there are some impressive views of Copper Mt., Puget Sound, and Mt. Rainer. Hiking time is advertised as 5 hours round trip and this has been my experience particulary with water and photography breaks. Trail is in excellent shape with numbers on first 24 switchbacks. Found that it took about 45 minutes from switcback 24 to trailhead going down.