from lower trailhead it lightly asends forest to sink lake and a shelter (.5miles) from there you hike another half miles to the upper trail head, where the route steepens a bit and travels through rhodehdendron switching back up the mountain side. Soon we came to soem rock outcropings and the seenery changed to a mix of subalpine and lowland trees. After this it opened up into meadow and hikes across a creek which has great views of the valley. Past that we hiked through subalpine trees switching back at a moderate to steep grade. At 4800ft we encountered snow patches on the trail and the temperature was much cooler. A little farther up the trail turned to mostly meadows and it was very windy (60mph gust. we got just below the ridge at 6000ft and made camp on a snow patch about 6-8inches deep. After we had established camp we headed up to the summit wear, we all expirienced the stongest wind we had ever encountered in our 18 years of existance. it was anywhere from 60 to 120mph sustained gusts, it literally knocked us off our feet a few times and we had a hard time breathing (It had rained all day and there was a storm passing through). So we came back down and slept....the temp was very cold i dont reconmend a sleeping bag with a rating less than 0 degrees. we woke up the next morning and ate and made good time back down to our jeep. Oh yeah the view form the top was clear and extraordinary especially at night when you see city lights...i highly recomend this trail, but for a warmer time of year

Got to the upper trailhead at around 10:30am. We went to the lower one first, but met someone there who suggested skipping the first mile by starting from the upper. The weather was perfect with not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was just right - warm enough for a t-shirt, but cool enough not to overheat on the way up. The trail is in good condition all the way up and the views along the way as well as from the top are magnificent. Visibility was breathtaking... we could see Rainier, Adams, Helens, Glacier Peak, Baker as well as Seattle and Victoria as well as the smaller Olympic peaks nearby. Highly recommended.

The only negative part of the day was the drive to the trailhead. Road 2820 from Bon Jon Pass is narrow, steep, and has frightening exposure (I'm rather agraphobic!) so I don't recommend it for people who are nervous about cliff-edges. Luckily, I wasn't the driver. When we did this trail last year it was in a deep fog and we couldn't see the bottom; somehow that made it less disconcerting. Nonetheless, after reaching the trailhead safely, we calmed down and began the ascent through the clearcut, which is beinning to look better with many flowers and shrubs in bloom. The trail is steep at first and then levels out for a good while. When we reached the intersection with the Mount Townsend trail at 1.9 miles we turned left on it and headed up to the summit. The views open out and they are really spectacular. Sadly though, we could see the smoke fume from the fire on the Brothers in the far distance. This is a gorgeous trail. It winds upward through lovely groves of alpine fir and lodgepole pine. We ate lunch at the north summit where we had a panoramic view to the west, but the east was completely covered with clouds. Puget Sound and Seattle were not visible. But Mount Rainier, Glacier Peak, Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan stood above the clouds. They looked like they were floating. We headed back down the trail to the intersection with the Little Quilcene Trail (1.4 miles) and decided to continue on it a ways along Dirty Face Ridge. This was a great decision, because we found the views along the ridge even more interesting than the ones we'd had at the top of Townsend. From the ridge you get a much closer view of Iron Mountain and Buckhorn, and many peaks and valleys that we hadn't seen from the top. On the other side of the ridge we could see Mount Baker. We followed the ridge about a mile and descended about 400 feet, and decided we had better turn back. We saw no one on the ridge, and only a couple of hunters and three other hikers all day. I think this was the best hike I've done this year.

The views and the flowers are outstanding. We arrived Saturday afternoon under grey skies. By the time we reached Windy Camp it was dark, foggy and downright depressing. The next morning was glorious. I got up well before sunrise and when I saw what a beautiful clear day was in store I got so excited that I skipped breakfast grabbed my dog Umbo and flew up the mountain to greet the rising sun. I was the only soul on the mountain and the scene was truly splendid. You can see almost all of western Washington from Mt St. Helens to Baker and way up into Canada. You also get a great up close view of the western Olympic peaks. Port Angeles, Victoria, Seattle, and Tacoma are all clearly displayed. The flowers are also making a tremendous showing. I went back to camp, ate breakfast, grabbed my wife and went right back up for an encore performance. Only one guy up there at 9:30 am. As we were coming back down we were greeted by throngs of day hikers who probably reached the trailhead between 10:00am and 1:00pm. By then it was pretty hot and the hikers looked uncomfortable. I didn't realize that there is an upper and a lower trailhead. The upper trailhead shaves off 1.2 mi each way. The unmarked turnoff for the upper trailhead is about another 2 mi down rd 27 from the marked lower trailhead. It has a sign indicating it's an unmaintained service road but nothing about Mt Townsend. Regular passenger cars can apparently make it.

I was surprised at the number of cars at the upper trailhead on a Tuesday morning. I counted 13, and more and more people kept arriving as the day progressed. It was a particularly beautiful day for hiking: clear and sunny and with a light breeze from time to time. The trail is in great condition with no snow (except for a few patches off the trail at Windy Camp)and no fallen trees or other obstructions. The wildflowers were spectacular in the upper meadows. I've hiked this trail many times and I have never seen it as beautiful: the flowers, the snowy peaks against the deep green, and the expansive (and clear) views of Puget Sound and the Cascades. At one point along the trail you could see from Mt Baker all the way to Mt. ST. Helen's! Unfortunately, the warm day and flowers brought out all the bugs. They were truly horrible at the top--great swarms of biting flies. Nonetheless, the hike was well worth the bites. A glorious day!