Mount Townsend (#839) - from Little Quilcene (#835). Roads 28 (from Palo Alto, with detour via 2810) and 2820 to the trailhead were clear and in good condition. Only one small tree was down on trail. Only a few small patches of snow remained on trail and those were easy to negotiate and the trail easy to follow across them. Great day; great hike!

Wildflowers marvellous - probably the best we've ever seen on this trail (which is among the best flower trails in Washington). Rhodies pretty much in full bloom in the woods. The rock gardens farther up were in full color, and the alpine flowers on the summit were great. However the mist blowing up the east side of the summit plateau turned into a full-fledged cloud, interfering with the superb view panorama. Snow conditions are about what you would normally expect around the first week of June. Trail quite passable, with patchy snow on the trail limited to the fairly flat area in the neighborhood of Camp Windy. The Camp is mostly snow covered. People unfamiliar with the trail should have no trouble following it, except possibly at the junction with the short spur to Windy Lake. This junction is under the largest remaining snow patch. Just hang a sharp right here (rather than going straight ahead), and the trail will soon reappear.

The trail is in excellent condition with the exception of portions that are snow covered. Patches of snow start at about 4700 ft, most notably on the switchbacks. Patches give way to solid snow on the trail just below & above Camp Windy, where there are several misleading trails. Then there are only a few snow patches from the Silver Lake trail junction to the Mt Townsend ridge crest. The Silver Lake basin appears to be solid snow. Note - dog poop (insideously camouflaged, very tacky & oderiferous)

Perhaps the first semblance of summer weather made this short round trip especially satisfying. We purposed originally to visit Tubal Cain and possibly Marmot Pass, but gave up at the ""road closed"" dirt pile across Palo Alto Road. Instead, we took our low-center Mazda adventuring on Road 28, turning off on 2820 just before Bon Jon Pass. The narrow Mazda proved just the ticket for bypassing snowbanks in the last mile before the Little Quilcene Trailhead. The first half mile of the trail is just fine, if you like hiking through clear cuts. Shortly after entering the woods, progress slowed due to a quick sequence of a half-dozen blow downs, together with the remnants of the big snowpack. About a quarter mile below the saddle (little summit @ 1 mi.) the snow becomes continuous. Once through the saddle, the trail reappears for stretches up to a few hundred yards, but it's still snowcovered more than 50% of the way to the intersection with the Mt. Townsend Trail. After making the turn, there was another, say, half mile of snow before the trail breaks out into the open pine parkland. Lots of rusty needles on the tips of the pine branches - was it the tough La Nina winter again' Anyway, the entire ridgetop of Townsend is snow free, full of little flowers and quite fetching on this sunny day. Good views over to the Cascades, back into the interior Olympics and on across the Straits. We saw 13 other people during the round trip, including 5 who came up the Mount Townsend Trail. An ice axe is handy on the Little Quilcene, though we saw two young fellers in tennies who didn't have an axe, and seemed to get up just fine.

Hiked to the top of Mt. Ellinore via the Little Quilcene trail. The trail is in excellent condition with one small tree that has fallen across it. The rhodies are no longer in bloom but the wild flowers are out in full force. The whole side of the mountain smelled of wildflowers. The view to the east was non-existant, to the west was excellent.